A monk and Prohibition-era stillsSourced
Making liquor was illegal.
A monk helped farmers build stills.
During US Prohibition, Benedictine brother Justus Trettel reportedly helped Minnesota farmers build stills to supplement their income. The separate claim that the abbey itself secretly operated a still is considered unlikely.
Even a moonshine story
needs a line between fact and lore.
Summary / translation: Unbubly · CC BY-SA 4.0
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Justus Trettel · Wikimedia contributors
Adapted, summarized and translated from the source. Adapted text is also available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Reviewed: 2026-10-01