BRUSSELS ¨C A Brussels church that was nearly forced to close its doors for lack of parishioners has turned to the Belgian brewing tradition and launched a new beer in order to raise more funds for a now growing congregation.
St. Catherine¡¯s Church, by the city¡¯s increasingly gentrified canal-side docks, partnered with a local brewery to create Ste Kat¡¯, a strong, fruity pale ale that uses the affectionate local name for the church.
¡°You could say that it¡¯s an image of the church, that it¡¯s effervescent, full of life,¡± said Father Jeremie Schaub, the Roman Catholic priest who helped create the beer with a local brewery, which is itself a recent start-up, the Brussels Beer Project.
¡°It¡¯s also a little bit the image we want to portray of St. Catherine¡¯s Church.¡±
The beer will be sold to fund renovations to the 19th century structure, which Brussels city council considered knocking down a few years ago, thinking to build a market or housing. A parish outing to a theme park is also on the cards.
The beer will be sold through a church shop and will also be available at restaurants and cafes in the resurgent nightlife quarter around the neo-Gothic church in central Brussels.
Ste Kat¡¯ is based on the local tradition of abbey beers and Trappist breweries, a brewing process based on the type of yeast used by Trappist monks since the 1800s. The beer has more exotic flavors and hops than the traditional Belgian style.
At 7-percent alcohol it is less potent than some of its local competitors ¡ª but still packs nearly twice the punch of a typical international lager.
The Brussels Beer Project will brew about 50,000 bottles in a first phase, to see how well it sells.
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