Monks launch legal fight to protect water purity of Trappist beer
As keepers of one of only 14 abbeys in the world producing Trappist beer, the monks of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy, in Rochefort, are dogged defenders of the purity of the spring water from which it is made.
A long-running attempt by one of Belgium’s richest families, the Lhoist-Berghmans, to lower the area’s groundwater level to help prolong the life of their local lime quarry business has been fought against hard by the monks in the courts. But, until now, there has been no suggestion of any sin.
That appears to have changed. Following a decision last December by the Walloon regional administration to allow the mining company Lhoist to test if similarly pure waters could be pumped from deeper aquifers to satisfy the monks, the abbey has formally claimed that the civil servant who granted the permit has shown bias.
