Three Rules of Authentic Trappist: the beer bottle that’s a work of art

Golden artworks gleam on deep brown glass. Meticulously drawn gothic ornamentation. A sense of quiet, craftsmanship, and quality. Corked and sealed with a classy black muzzle.

It sounds like the brief for a luxury champagne or a high-end single malt, but the Eindhoven branding agency Tête de la Course has introduced a premium-level presentation to the beer market in the form of Three Rules of Authentic—a special edition dubbel with a story behind it that feeds right into a narrative of quality and craftsmanship.

“Three Trappist breweries – La Trappe in the Netherlands, Tynt Meadow in Leicestershire and Zundert also in the Netherlands – joined forces and decided to brew a beer for a good cause. Tête de la Course was asked to develop a name, package design and campaign,” explains Ruud Cuijpers, creative director.

He continues: “But almost nobody knows what makes a Trappist beer Trappist. This gave us the idea to pay tribute to the most important differences between Trappist and conventional abbey beers, as well as the collaboration between the three abbeys. We turned the medium into the message.”

Hence, the product is named Three Rules of Authentic Trappist, and the packaging explains these three rules via lavish illustrations, carefully drawn by Svetlana Molodchenko – an artist deeply inspired by ancient, illuminated lettering, the monks who created it centuries ago and the gothic cathedrals they worshipped in.

“Rule one: the product must be manufactured within the walls of a Trappist abbey. Two: it must be brewed under the supervision of monks. And, three: that part of the proceeds go to charity. These rules are not only the foundation of their beer but also their existence,” says Ruud.

Working in close collaboration with Svetlana and the abbots at each monastery, Ruud directed the development of a logo for the neck of the 75cl bottle, a main label design and three illustrations – one to demonstrate each of the rules. As Svetlana drew, Ruud and the abbots were inspired to add further detail and narrative depth to the label art and illustrations.

The Arabic ‘3’ used initially became the Roman numeral ‘III’. The hard border of the hexagonal label form gave way to a trefoil, with an illustration within each leaf. Organic patterns inspired by the decorative artwork of the Renaissance were honed to reflect the individual characteristics of each abbey involved. In the triptych of illustrations, each rule was aligned with one of the monasteries, and further details were added.

“The first illustration relates to La Trappe, which is symbolised by a lamb, ornamented with hop vines, and shows a round of cheese, a candle and a monk with a finger to his lips for silence. The second connects with Tynt Meadow, with its gothic windows, oak leaves and acorns, a dove, honey and a bee, representing biodiversity. The third is Zundert Brewery, the symbol for which is a lapwing. There are hands holding the world, bread, a cross and wild gale flowers,” says Svetlana.

Initially, full-colour, direct-to-glass printing was the intention, but the project’s epiphany came when Ruud decided to reduce it to one ink—gold on dark glass—for a classier, more detailed, and more impactful finish. Fine-tuning the printing proved to be the most challenging aspect of the job, but the results were worth it.

“In close collaboration with the printer, we tested the level of detail extensively using a special printer suitable for small print runs. It turned out that we could approach a nice level of detail, and because we were also able to save on colour runs, later on, we decided to print some details in real gold,” says Ruud.

Just how effective has this premium packaging been? “The three abbots describe it as ‘a true work of art’,” adds Ruud. “The market’s reaction has been incredibly good. The product is almost sold out, even though this is the largest quantity of special edition beer the breweries have produced. People are buying it because of the design, and we’ve noticed that they increasingly understand that Trappist beer distinguishes itself by its three rules.”

Three Rules of Authentic Trappist retails for £25. Proceeds from sales go to Trees for All, which aims to plant 14,000 trees.