Trappist beer
Spencer Brewery is the name of the brewery run by the abbey that produces Trappist beer. In 2010, St. Joseph's Abbey explored possibility of brewing beer like other Trappist monasteries, and sent several fact finding missions — first to the Belgian Beer Fest in Boston, then to several Trappist breweries in Europe. The Trappist breweries made three recommendations for the new enterprise: hire a skilled brewing engineer; build a modern, state of the art facility; and only brew a single beer for the first five years. Over twenty test batches were developed before settling on the final beer's recipe. The first beer produced was a blonde ale at 6.5% alcohol by volume which was called Spencer Trappist Ale. , it was the first and only certified Trappist beer brewed in the United States.