LOS ANGELES – Trappist beer — a brew crafted exclusively by monks — is now made in the United States, too, with a New England abbey unveiling its debut vintage this week, L.A. Weekly reports.

St. Joseph's Abbey, a quiet cloister in Spencer, Massachusetts, is releasing the first ever American-made Trappist beer, the product of several years of research and investment by its monks.

The monks tapped the knowledge of nearby craft brewery Pretty Things and supplemented it with training from Belgian abbeys to hone their new trade.

The self-sufficient monks built a 36,000 square-foot eco-friendly brewery and began cultivating a 10-acre field of barley to produce the beer entirely in-house.

The result? A balanced, 6.5% ABV beer that will begin reaching store shelves in Massachusetts. Depending on public reception, it will expand to other states, too.