The Trappiste de Rochefort is also a lager
Situated 3 km from the centre of Rochefort, the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy, home to a community of Trappist monks, Cistercians of the Strict Observance, was built in 1230. It is best known for its brewery.
The brewing itself started in 1900, but its beginnings were modest, with only small-scale production; it was not until 1952 that the quality and quantity increased and only in the 1970s that the brewery was modernised. For 65 years the Abbey's monks, who produce the famous Trappiste de Rochefort, stuck to the three famous varieties. The three sister beers, two dark and one amber, are now joined by a fourth, this time a lager.
In the 1920s, the monks experimented with a strong lager, the "Extra", but production only lasted a few years. The new variety is being created exactly a century after this first short-lived experiment. It was the huge public demand that convinced the Fathers to embark on the creation of this fourth Trappist beer. Until now, the three classics were distinguished by the colour of their caps: red, green or blue (the most alcoholic, sometimes called "la Merveilleuse") and their alcohol content (6.8 and 10°). The latest arrival, which is a little over 8°, will also be distinguished by its colour, purple (the colour of friendship), and by its cap, which proudly bears the abbey's motto: "Curvata resurgo" ("Curved, I straighten up"). But it is not certain that someone who has just drunk too much of it will be able to straighten up right away.
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