Opinion – Copo Cheio: Nuns from Santa Catarina may be the first Trappist women to launch beer

Produced inside monasteries of the Trappist order, Trappist beers are among the most cult and exclusive in the world. Exclusive precisely because they can be made only inside monasteries, and supervised by monks of the order, which limits their manufacture.

Most of the Trappist monasteries that produce the beers are in Belgium: six. In recent years, with the popularization of craft beer from the Abbey, other monasteries began to manufacture it and today there are 14 different brands around the world, 13 on European soil and one from a monastery in the United States.

For now a monastery of Santa Catarina tries to enter the select group. And, better still, it would be the first female-supervised Trappist beer. Two nuns of the Trappist Sisters of Boa Vista, in the southern region of the country, are doing their brewing training at the Escola Superior de Cerveja e Malt, in Blumenau — the only higher education institution specializing in beer in Latin America.

The Trappist community in Rio Negrinho already produces other common products to order, such as jams and chocolates, always with the aim of maintaining the monastery and helping other institutions, without seeking profit. The initiative for the beer project on Trappist soil came from the ESCM itself, which is funding the course and equipment, so that the sisters can proceed with the project.

“We know and study the monasteries that produce beer, but we didn’t think it would be possible to get involved in this project. As I love to study, we are looking for knowledge to evolve and support our community and other communities in the world”, says Zulema Jacquelin Jofre Palma, 51, Chilean who has lived in Brazil for 12 years.

“I want that, when people taste our beer, people also connect with a lighter and happier vision of what our religious vocation means”, comments Raquel Watzko, 36, another nun who is improving in Blumenau.

There is still no deadline for the commercialization of beer. For now, the nuns of Santa Catarina are studying styles and recipes at ESCM, while evaluating the best structure for manufacturing.

Even after the start of production, the beer still cannot be called Trappist, but abbey beer. To be considered Trappist, in addition to being manufactured inside the monastery, it is necessary to receive the seal of authentication of the International Trappist Association.