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of beer available for sale are revealed. Sales are limited to one order every 60 days per person per license plate and phone number. Also, the beer must be reserved online through the abbey's website, with registration weeks or even months before the planned pick up date. The online system has replaced the "beerphone" in 2019. The monks do not sell beer to individuals who drive up to the abbey hoping to purchase beer. The reason for this is to eliminate commercial reselling, and hence give all visitors a chance to purchase the product.
272:
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339:, a cafe and visitor's centre opposite the abbey. All beers can be bought there for immediate consumption or take-away, depending on availability (however, prices are higher than at the abbey). Often there is no beer available at the shop. The shop also sells cheeses made at the abbey, yeast tabs (not yeast to make beer but dead yeast for health) and other Trappist products.
328:
Buyers were originally limited to ten 24-bottle crates of the beer per car, but as the beer increased in popularity, this was first reduced to five, then to three and now to two or one crates. For the
Westvleteren 12 in 2009, it was limited to one case. When making an order now, the type and quantity
226:. During World Wars I and II, the Westvleteren brewery continued to operate, albeit at reduced capacity. It was the sole Trappist brewery to retain the copper vessels throughout the 1914-18 and 1939-45 wars — while the other breweries had their copper requisitioned by the German occupation forces. In
366:
The brewery and the
Belgian retailer Colruyt put a gift pack (6 bottles of Westvleteren 12, plus 2 glasses) on sale, available only in exchange for promotional coupons printed in selected media. The goal of the sales was to increase income to provide funds for urgent and immediate renovations at the
370:
On 4 November 2011 it was announced that 7760 gift packs (each containing 6 bottles of
Westvleteren 12 and 2 glasses) would be imported by US-based Shelton Brothers, starting in April 2012. During a Shelton Brothers beer festival in June 2012, the gift packs were then made available to attendees at
401:
Despite the popularity, the monks of St Sixtus have continued to decline almost all interview and visit requests, and have not enjoyed all of the attention they have received. Non-monastic visitors to the abbey are usually turned away, instead being directed to the visitor's centre opposite where
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In June 2005, when
Westvleteren 12 was again highlighted as "Best Beer in the World", news organizations followed this up and articles appeared in the international press, highlighting the beer ranking and the unusual business policies. In 2014 it was rated best beer in the world by Ratebeer.com.
255:
As with all other
Trappist breweries, the beer is only sold in order to financially support the monastery and other philanthropic causes. Whilst the brewery is a business by definition (its purpose is to make money), it does not exist for pure profit motives, and they do no advertising. The monks
397:
Following these events, interest in
Westvleteren's output increased and stories appeared of the abbey's stock being low, forcing the monks to reduce the amount of beer sold to each customer. In an interview, monk Mark Bode explained that the abbey had no intention of increasing its production,
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The brewery's three beers have acquired an international reputation for taste and quality; Westvleteren 12 is considered by some to be the best beer in the world. The beers are not brewed to commercial demands but are sold in small quantities weekly from the doors of the monastery itself, to
260:, the brewery stopped supplying wholesalers, and since then they only sell to individual buyers in person at the brewery or the visitors' centre opposite. These methods all go against modern business methods; however, as stated by the Father Abbott on the opening of the new brewery,
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On 12 December 2012 gift packs were briefly made available in the US. As with the previous release, the gift packs contained 6 bottles of
Westvleteren 12 and 2 decorated glasses. Distributed to selected locations across 22 states, they retailed at the regulated price of $ 84.99.
354:("Do not resell") printed on it. The abbey is very much against resale of their beer, and it is their wish that the beer be only commercially available at the two abbey-owned official sale points. Therefore, any Westvleteren beer offered for sale anywhere else in the world is a
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The brewery currently employs three secular workers for various manual labour tasks; however, the primary brewing is done by the monks only. Of the 26 Trappists who reside at the abbey, five monks run the brewery, with an additional five who assist during bottling.
230:, this was primarily due to the abbey not being occupied by the Germans; it was caring for wounded Allied troops. In 1931, the abbey began selling beer to the general public, having only served beer to guests and visitors up until that time. In 1946, the
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item, as there are no wholesalers in existence that supply the beer. The abbey is actively working to eliminate the illicit sales, and generally only agrees to media interviews to spread their message against drinking illicitly sold
Westvleteren beer.
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monastery. Available from 2 November 2011, sales were limited to 93,000 packs, at 25 Euro per pack. All earnings of the sale were to be put towards the renovation project. This was the first time the brewery had done something like this.
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the price of $ 85. The original arrangement also listed
Manneken-Brussels Imports Austin, Texas, as an additional distributor for the western states, but the Manneken-Brussels deal fell through in May 2012.
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name. This agreement ended in 1992; today St. Bernardus still brews beers of similar styles, but under their brand name. That same year, the abbey opened its new brewery to replace the older equipment.
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have repeatedly stated that they only brew enough beer to run the monastery, and will make no more than they need to sell, regardless of demand. During
317:, with some drinkers preferring the taste when the beers have been stored for several years. The ingredients are yeast, hops, malt, sugar and water.
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there is information about the abbey and brewery. They have stated their desire to only produce as much beer as needed to finance the community.
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monastery in France founded the St. Sixtus monastery in 1831. In 1838, the brewing began at
Westvleteren. In 1850, some of the monks founded the
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Many beer drinkers rank Westvleteren 12 among their favourite beers. The 8 and the Blonde also rank highly on beer-rating websites.
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The bottles have been sold without labels since 1945. As of a recent visit in February 2024 the bottles are sold with labels.
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The current production is 475 kilolitres (60,000 cases) per year, and has remained the same since 1946.
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Aside from the brewery itself, the only other official sale point for the beer is the abbey-owned
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Until 1999, the brewery also produced a 6.2% ABV dark beer and a lighter 4° which served as the
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722:"Rare Belgian beer Westvleteren 12 sells out at LCBO in four minutes | Metro"
262:"We are not brewers. We are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks."
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despite demand: "We make the beer to live but we do not live for beer."
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A six-pack (at CAD$ 76.85) was sold out on 12 December 2012 at various
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655:"A Westvleteren XII Purchasing Update for Attendees of The Festival"
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The Westvleteren beers. Poured in the glass is one of them, the 12°
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564:"Trappist Command: Thou Shalt Not Buy Too Much of Our Beer"
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309:, but these were replaced by the Blonde. The 8 and 12 are
677:"Manneken-Brussels loses Westvleteren XII import deal"
504:"Monks who make world's best beer pray for quiet life"
53:, and by adding encyclopedic content written from a
604:"Monks who make world's best beer have a message"
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346:Westvleteren XII with gift packaging and glasses
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238:was granted a licence to brew beer under the
202:individual buyers on an advance-order basis.
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634:"WESTVLETEREN BEER TO BE DISTRIBUTED IN U.S"
477:"Down on your knees to bless monks' top ale"
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350:Buyers of the beer receive a receipt with
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701:. Beerstreetjournal.com. 12 December 2012
699:"State by State Westvletern Release List"
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73:Learn how and when to remove this message
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418:See listings at BeerAdvocate, RateBeer,
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297:Westvleteren 12 (yellow cap) (formerly
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800:, brewery details from BeerTourism.com
793:Abbey of Saint Sixtus official webshop
788:Abbey of Saint Sixtus official website
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283:Westvleteren Blonde (green cap), 5.8%
34:contains content that is written like
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562:Miller, John W. (November 29, 2007).
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290:Westvleteren 8 (blue cap) (formerly
18:
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502:Castle, Stephen (August 10, 2005).
475:Jackson, Michael (April 10, 2000).
301:), a 10.2% ABV, introduced in 1940.
13:
313:and are considered to have a long
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1038:
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798:Sint Sixtus Abbey of Westvleteren
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1027:Companies based in West Flanders
623:Het Nieuwsblad, October 14, 2011
602:Knox, Noelle (October 3, 2005).
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535:. Sintsixtus.be. Archived from
479:. Michael Jackson's Beer Hunter
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279:The brewery brews three beers:
1007:1838 establishments in Belgium
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446:Cook, Chuck (April–May 2005).
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218:monastery, which also brews a
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1017:Trappist breweries in Belgium
636:. Bevnet.com. 4 November 2011
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287:, introduced on 10 June 1999.
164:Westvleteren visitor's center
657:. The Festival. 17 June 2012
450:. Celebrator. Archived from
16:Brewery in Vleteren, Belgium
7:
764:"The Top Beers At RateBeer"
743:"Top Beers on Planet Earth"
10:
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675:Nason, Adam (2 May 2012).
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566:. The Wall Street Journal
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386:International reputation
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210:Trappist monks from the
448:"Trappist Westvleteren"
251:Commercial orientations
216:Notre-Dame de Scourmont
183:founded in 1838 at the
585:"In de Vrede - Welkom"
382:locations in Ontario.
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177:Brouwerij Westvleteren
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1022:Breweries of Flanders
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188:Abbey of Saint Sixtus
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55:neutral point of view
983:50.89500°N 2.72167°E
352:Niet verder verkopen
86:Westvleteren Brewery
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514:on January 30, 2009
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47:promotional content
842:Trappist breweries
425:2012-12-17 at the
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311:bottle conditioned
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234:brewery in nearby
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49:and inappropriate
988:50.89500; 2.72167
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533:"Brewing to live"
307:monks' table beer
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147:Production output
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589:Indevrede.be
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537:the original
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512:the original
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452:the original
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360:black market
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324:Availability
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258:World War II
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169:Westvleteren
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118:Headquarters
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60:
45:by removing
41:Please help
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986: /
888:Tynt Meadow
883:Tre Fontane
705:19 December
683:19 December
606:. USA TODAY
337:In de Vrede
228:World War I
63:August 2020
1001:Categories
971:50°53′42″N
949:Abbey beer
858:Engelszell
770:2014-01-20
749:2014-01-20
728:2014-01-20
661:2012-07-25
640:2011-11-04
610:2011-04-19
570:2011-04-19
543:2014-01-20
518:2011-04-19
483:2011-04-19
458:2011-04-19
406:References
315:shelf life
294:), 8% ABV.
240:St. Sixtus
43:improve it
974:2°43′18″E
954:Trappists
924:Mariawald
893:Westmalle
873:Rochefort
863:La Trappe
429:, et al.
423:Archived
192:Vleteren
185:Trappist
136:Products
123:Vleteren
100:Industry
903:Zundert
878:Spencer
222:called
206:History
196:Belgium
181:brewery
179:) is a
129:Belgium
110:Founded
912:Others
853:Chimay
224:Chimay
929:Achel
868:Orval
358:- or
292:Extra
267:Beers
236:Watou
173:Dutch
707:2012
685:2012
380:LCBO
356:grey
151:475
140:Beer
113:1838
299:Abt
285:ABV
190:in
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587:.
552:^
506:.
492:^
467:^
434:^
198:.
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153:kL
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