For years, monks at St. Joseph's Abbey in Massachusetts have been selling jams and jellies to make m

(16 Jan 2014) FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus003947 SCRIPT: BELGIAN MONKS BREW WHAT MANY CONSIDER THE BEST BEER IN THE WORLD. BUT THESE MONKS AREN'T EUROPEAN, THEY'RE FROM SPENCER, MASSACHUSETTS. WHEN WORD GOT OUT THAT FATHER ISAAC KEELEY AND THE MONKS AT ST. JOSEPH'S ABBEY WERE CONSIDERING OPENING A BREWERY, ALARM BELLS WENT OFF ACROSS THE ATLANTIC. "The original skepticism was because we were outside of Europe ... and Americans, and the fear we would go too big too fast." (Father Isaac Keeley, St. Joseph's Abbey) FOR YEARS, THE SPENCER MONKS HAVE SUPPORTED THEMSELVES BY SELLING JAMS AND RELIGIOUS CLOTHING. BUT FOUR YEARS AGO THEY DECIDED THEY NEEDED TO BREW UP A NEW SOURCE OF REVENUE. "We see it as a 50 or 100 year project....hopefully future generations will be able to stand on our shoulders and we see the brewery as part of that," (Father Damian Carr, The Abbott of St. Joseph's) CISTERCIANS MONKS, COMMONLY CALLED TRAPPISTS, RUN EIGHT BREWERIES IN THE WORLD, ALL IN EUROPE. IF THE MONKS FROM SPENCER WANTED TO JOIN THE BREWERIES IN THE INTERNATIONAL TRAPPIST ASSOCIATION THEY NEEDED TO MEET VERY HIGH STANDARDS. AFTER BUILDING A STATE OF THE ART BREWERY, FATHER ISAAC WENT TO BELGIUM AND PRESENTED SPENCER TRAPPIST ALE TO HIS EUROPEAN BROTHERS FOR A FINAL VOTE. "They approved it unanimously and after the vote there was applause," (Father Isaac Keeley, St. Joseph's Abbey) MANY OF THE BROTHERS AT ST. JOSEPH'S GOT THEIR FIRST TASTE OF THEIR BREW AT A RECENT HOLIDAY PARTY. "The keg was pouring beautifully. We had this great head on the beer. The monks were coming back for seconds at least. And it just struck me...in a certain sense we have made it." (Father Isaac Keeley, St. Joseph's Abbey) SPENCER TRAPPIST ALE HITS SHELVES MID-JANUARY. IT WILL INITIALLY BE AVAILABLE ONLY IN MASSACHUSETTS, BUT THE MONKS HOPE THAT ONE DAY THEIR EUROPEAN BROTHERS CAN DRINK AN AMERICAN TRAPPIST ALE. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...