The monks produced a great variety of food and drink items. A lot of these are still consumed today - some are even famous or iconic products.

I suspect you could walk into any supermarket in Western Europe and find at least one product that originated from the monasteries.

Most of these products are now manufactured commercially, rather than monastically - but not all.

Monks began cultivating fields, orchards, vineyards, livestock and so on chiefly because they were obligated to feed the many pilgrims who stopped at monasteries to rest while on their travels.

Producing a surplus was incentivised because the monks could sell it externally, to generate revenue for their monastery and pay for its upkeep and social obligations.

Monasteries had a deep reserve of free labour (the monks) and, crucially, their "workforce" was literate.

This second factor alone put them at a huge advantage compared to most anyone else in Medieval Europe. They could, and did, write down recipes, record the results of experimentation, and pass on tips and techniques to future generations of monks.

Cheese was a common product for monks to produce, as you mentioned, but it wasn't the only one. Given that they were Catholic, they of course needed to produce wine for communion.

Some particularly strict monasteries banned the non-liturgical consumption of wine - but most allowed it. It was also used for medicinal purposes.

It's no coincidence that many of France's great wine regions have a history in which the monasteries loom large - including Burgundy, the Loire Valley and the Rhône.

Beer was a common alternative for monks in areas where vines couldn't easily be cultivated, including Belgium, northern France, and parts of Germany.

Belgian Trappist beer, for example, originates with monks from what used to be called the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe - commonly known as the Trappists.

Monks also made distilled alcoholic beverages, mainly fruit brandies - but these were chiefly used for medicinal rather than culinary purposes. We have evidence of 14th century monastic recipes for Armagnac, or aygardent ("burning water") as it was called then.

Given that one of the social obligations of the monasteries was to look after the old and sick, it makes sense that they put a lot of focus on producing wines and spirits that they considered to be medicinal.

As for the intellectual and other manufacturing activities you asked about, someone else will be able to answer that better than me. I know a lot more about food and drink then I do about monastic history.