“Sint-Sixtus Brewery to Sell Beer at Dutch Liquor Stores to Combat Illegal Trade and Support Charities”

If it is up to the monks who live there, the beer from the Sint-Sixtusabdij in Westvleteren will soon no longer be sold on the Dutch market for extortionate prices. The brothers will sell their beer themselves from next month at Dutch “independent” liquor stores, to prevent illegal trade.

Although the abbey is completely dependent on the income from the sale of its own beer, production remains limited. A total of 7500 hectoliters of beer is brewed in about 50 days. Of this, approximately 790 hectoliters, about 240,000 bottles of beer, will be exported to the Netherlands on an annual basis.

Until now, foreign visitors to the abbey and beer brewery could buy the beer at the abbey. And sometimes that was then resold for very high prices. “These usury practices are diametrically opposed to the values ​​of the monk community. The brothers want as many people as possible to be able to enjoy their Trappist beers for a normal, fair price,” the abbey reports.

The plan with the Dutch liquor stores is a trial of at least one year. The first bottles of the Blond, 8 and 12 varieties should be available from June 18. Nothing will change for Belgian Trappist Westvleteren lovers. They can reserve the beer online and pick it up at the abbey or have it delivered at home.

The proceeds of the beer are intended for the livelihood of the monks, the wages of the people who work in the abbey and for the maintenance of the monastery itself. What remains goes to charities.