What is Trappist beer?

What makes a beer Trappist

Trappist is not a beer style. It is a protected designation of origin tied to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, the monastic order known as the Trappists after La Trappe Abbey in Normandy. A Trappist beer can be pale or dark, light or strong. What links Westmalle Tripel to Orval or Rochefort 10 is where and by whom it is made, not how it tastes.

Monasteries brewed to feed their communities and guests for centuries, but most modern Trappist breweries date from the 19th century. Westmalle began brewing in 1836, Westvleteren in 1838, Chimay in 1862 and Rochefort around 1899. Orval's current brewery opened in 1931 to fund the rebuilding of the abbey. Commercial success brought imitators, and in 1962 a Ghent court ruled that only monks could sell beer as Trappist.

The Authentic Trappist Product label

In 1997 eight Trappist abbeys founded the International Trappist Association (ITA) to stop commercial brands from using the Trappist name. The ITA created the hexagonal Authentic Trappist Product (ATP) logo, which may appear on beer, cheese, bread, wine, liqueur and other goods made by member abbeys. The label is granted product by product, only on application, and only to ITA members.

To carry the ATP logo, a beer must meet three conditions. It must be brewed within the walls of a Trappist monastery, or close by. Brewing must happen under the supervision of the monks or nuns, who set the business policy. Profits must go to the needs of the community, to charity or to social work. When an abbey closes or the monks leave, the beer loses the label even if the recipe and the brewers stay the same.

Every Authentic Trappist brewery

As of 2026, eight breweries hold the ATP label for beer: five in Belgium and one each in the Netherlands, Italy and England. Four more breweries held the label in the past and lost it after their communities dissolved or the brewery closed. Belgium remains the center of gravity, but the Belgian count fell from six to five when Achel lost its status in January 2021.

Trappist beers without the ATP label

Two Trappist abbeys sell beer that does not carry the ATP logo because it is brewed elsewhere. Mont des Cats Abbey in northern France has sold a beer since 2011 that is brewed for it at Chimay's Scourmont Abbey. San Pedro de Cardeña near Burgos in Spain launched Cerveza Cardeña in 2016, brewed off-site. Both are made under monastic oversight, but neither is brewed within their own walls, which the ATP rules require.

Abbey beer is a separate, looser category. Brands such as Leffe, Grimbergen, Affligem and Tripel Karmeliet use the name or recipe of a real or historical abbey but are brewed by commercial companies. In Belgium, the Union of Belgian Brewers licenses a Certified Belgian Abbey Beer logo for brands with a documented link to an abbey that receives royalties.

Where dubbel, tripel and quadrupel come from

The three best-known Belgian monastic styles were shaped by Trappist breweries. Westmalle brewed a strong brown beer from 1856, which became the model for the dubbel: a dark ale of 6 to 8% ABV with dark fruit and caramel notes from dark candi sugar. Westmalle Tripel, a strong golden ale first sold in 1934, defined the tripel at around 8 to 10% ABV, pale, dry and spicy.

The word quadrupel was coined by La Trappe, which released La Trappe Quadrupel in 1991. Today the quadrupel, or Belgian dark strong ale, covers beers of 9 to 13% ABV such as Rochefort 10, Westvleteren 12 and Chimay Blue. Orval stands apart: a dry-hopped pale ale refermented with Brettanomyces that fits no family. Most of these breweries sit in Belgium, with others in the Netherlands, Italy and the United Kingdom.