The abbey of Oelenberg
Established in Reiningue in Alsace, this Trappist abbey had a brewery, about which very little information is available. But we know that it did exist.
The Trappists who occupied the abbey after 1825 built a brewery, annexed to the mill in 1855. They brewed a Table beer for the needs of the community, and also to face the bad quality of the wine about which the monks rightly complained. At that time, the vast cellars were dug in clay, under the monastery. At the beginning, the monks took advantage of the weak production to temporarily transform the brewery into wash-house, and thus clothes regularly took place in the copper boiler, instead of beer... In 1854, the brewery is listed under the name 'Stadler', probably the family name of the monk who was then master brewer.
A new brewery and a malt factory were built in 1894 following the plans of Father Ignace, for the sale of draft beers to the private visitors. Barleys and hop came from the grounds of the abbey. The production, which did not exceed 2800 hl a year, was consumed primarily by the monks and their hosts, as well as the sisters of the close community in Altbronn. During the summer, a diligence connected Lutterbach to the convent and many Mulhousians were coming to taste bread, cheese and beer of the abbey.
Some brewery directories give information about this brewery, called “Klosterbrauerei Oelenberg,” which is indexed as still active between 1910 and 1920. It probably ceased its activity during or at the end of the war of 1914-1918.
Visitors to the abbey, about 1904, attested that “the brewery is lately organized and, the brewer controlling his art; one drinks a truly splendid beer there.” This testimony, coming from German visitors accustomed to beers of high quality in their own country, has even more value and significance.