The Monastery of Christ in the Desert wants to start a small brewery so it can take over the Monks' Ale label now held by a Pecos monastery.

The Rio Arriba County Commission recently rezoned to light industrial 1.5 acres of the monastery's 115 acres, in the canyon of the Rio Chama north of Abiquiú, for the two-person brewery.

But Abbot Philip Morris said it will be next year at the earliest before the Monastery of Christ in the Desert is ready to begin brewing ale.

Even then, he said, most of the ale will be brewed at the Sierra Blanca Brewing Co. in Moriarty — where Monks' Ale is already made and packaged on behalf of the Benedictine Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe north of Pecos.

The Pecos monastery has a small brewery on-site to meet the state and federal rules for entities that sell alcoholic beverages. But because it no longer is actively involved in the management of Monks' Ale, it must either transfer its brewing license or lose it.

No one at the Pecos monastery responded to messages Monday about why it no longer is brewing ale.

Richard Weber, owner of the Sierra Blanca Brewing Co., said state law requires an entity holding a brewing license to have the ability to brew at its location. But he said this also is part of the marketing.

"They like people to think its brewed there," he said. "It helps with the mystique."

Weber said Monks' Ale uses a Belgian Bastogne yeast that gives the brew a banana aroma and a clove flavor. He said it is brewed at slightly higher temperatures and contains 5 percent to 6 percent alcohol — slightly higher than most beers.

The Monastery of Christ in the Desert is working on a recipe for a lighter brew called "wit beer" — also known as white beer or wheat beer, Weber said.

Sierra Blanca Brewing Co. also makes Roswell Alien Amber, Nut Brown Ale, India Pale Ale and Pilsner under its own label; Pancho Verde (a green chile-flavored beer), Outlaw Lager, India Pale Ale and Desert Pilsner under the Rio Grande label; and Triple A Blond and Slammin' Amber under the Albuquerque Isotopes label.

Morris said the 30 to 40 monks at Christ in the Desert already make soaps, candles, cards and other crafts to support themselves, but the ale will be "our first venture into alcohol." He said they also are looking into a hard cider and a bottled water. Morris said the bottled water already sold at the monastery's gift shop with its label actually is bottled in Philipsburg, Mont.

The monastery's products are also sold at The Monks' Corner, 235 Don Gaspar Ave. in Santa Fe.

Morris, who became the superior of the monastery in 1976, 12 years after it was founded, said Berkeley Merchant, president of the monastery's lay advisory board, is working on the brewing-license transfer.

Merchant, who was not available for comment Monday, "understands more," Morris said. "I'm a monk. I'm not a businessman."

Contact Tom Sharpe at 986-3080 or tsharpe@sfnewmexican.com.