Abbey Beers

Abbey beers are generally brewed under license by a commercial brewery, using the name and sometimes recipes of an abbey that has ceased brewing itself.

Very few of them are actually made within the walls of a monastery, and the brewery is often far from the abbey that gives its name to the beer they produce. Some "abbey" beers are even simply named after an abbey ruin or local saint without any connection with an existing monastic order. Nevertheless, many of these Abbey beers are of often of very high quality. Like Trappist beer, abbey beer designates a traditional segment and refer to old receipes and methods of brewing, rather than a single style of beer.

Under a typical abbey beer brand there is usually a range of several beers, with blonde and brown versions of various strengths, "dubbel" and "tripel" styles.

Dubbel are brown beers brewed with twice as much malt as would be needed for a 'regular' brew. Generally brewed with added candi sugar and sometimes spices.

Tripel refer to beers brewed with roughly three times the quantity of malt used for a regular brew. Candi sugar is also added during brewing. These beers are generally blond, they are unfiltered and submitted to a third fermentation in the bottle.

"Certified Belgian Abbey Beer" since the denomination of "Abbey beer" has been widely used for marketing purposes, sometimes by breweries not related to any existing abbey, the Union of Belgian Breweries has introduced the label 'Certified Belgian Abbey Beer'.