The image of quality associated with monks is very strong.

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But the current religious beer can come from an abbey ... or a professional brewer.

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We brew religious beer, you think, as monks live: in a secular tradition, with fervor, slowness and with a concern for perfection.

 

In any case, this is the general public's perception of it, and it gives monastic beer its reputation.

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Like Isabelle Jonveaux's analysis, the reputation for quality of beer (of the religious) is based on building value from that of the supplier. [...] "Uncertainty as to the quality of the product is dealt with by certainty as to the quality of the supplier."

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In todays' market, religious and lay people will try to persuade the public that their monastic or monastic-inspired beer is the best or the most authentic. It is a competitive movement that has long been engaged in by monastic brewers and lay brewers. The laity claiming, sometimes rightly, unfair competition, the religious seeking to widen their field of action outside the abbeys.