By Owen Ogletree, www.Brewtopia.info

Father Theodore sat at his microscope in the brewing laboratory of Belgium’s Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont in the winter of 1948. The Trappist monk was searching for a new yeast strain for the abbey’s Chimay beers. How did a monk become so knowledgeable of microbiology and brewing chemistry? The clever, spunky Father Theodore had studied with renowned brewing researcher Jean De Clerck (who is now buried at Scourmont Abbey), and the late beer writer Michael Jackson once said, “Father Theodore had a brewing scientist’s knowledge of water, barley varieties, hops and yeast.” [Read more…]