Chimay

What is Chimay Cheese?

Chimay cheese is tied to the Abbey of Notre-Dame de Scourmont in Chimay, in the Belgian province of Hainaut, the same abbey that brews Chimay beer under the motto "Ora et Labora". In 1850 the Prince of Chimay invited monks from the abbey of Westvleteren in West Flanders to found a new Cistercian monastery. Seven years later, with a pair of cows, the monks started making butter, and from 1876 the Trappists of Scourmont began ripening cheese.

A new cheese dairy opened in 1982 next to the bottling plant in Baileux, where the cheese is still made under the control of the monks. The first beer-washed cheese arrived in 1986, and seasonal cheeses have joined the range since. By 2013 output had reached 1,000 tonnes a year, 800 of which were eaten in Belgium. All Chimay products carry the authentic Trappist product label.

The range covers several styles. Grand Chimay is made from pasteurized milk and ripened three weeks; Chimay grand cru gets four. Vieux Chimay is a hard cheese aged at least six months from milk collected in summer, tasting of nuts with a light bitter edge, close to an aged Gouda. A la Chimay Rouge and A la Chimay Bleue are soft cheeses washed with their namesake beers for two weeks, and the hops leave a bitter note. Chimay Doré is a soft cheese ripened two weeks.

Two more cheeses round out the list. Poteaupré is a whole-milk, semi-hard, pressed, uncooked cheese ripened four weeks, with a washed ochre rind under a fine white bloom. Mont du Secours has a straightforward aroma, a soft paste, an orange rind covered in white bloom, and a creamy, unctuous body.