Trappist monks from the Catsberg monastery, located in France, founded the St Sixtus monastery in 1831. In 1838, the brewing at Westvleteren commenced. In 1850, some of the monks founded the Notre-Dame de Scourmont monastery, which also brews a Trappist beer. During World Wars I and II, the Westvleteren brewery continued to operate, albeit at a lower capacity. The brewery was the only Trappist one to retain the copper vessels throughout the wars - the other breweries had the copper salvaged by the Germans for their war efforts. In WWI this was primarily due to the abbey not being occupied by the Germans, but instead was caring for wounded allied troops. In 1946, the St Bernardus brewery in nearby Watou was granted a licence to brew beer under the St Sixtus name. In 1992 this agreement ended; St Bernardus still brews beers of similar styles, but under their own name. In 1989 the abbey opened its new brewery to replace the older equipment.
The brewery currently employs three secular workers for various manual labour tasks, however the primary brewing is done by the monks only. It is the only Trappist brewery where the monks still do all of the brewing. Five monks run most of the brewery, but an additional five help during bottling.
Commercial orientations
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 except for a small sign outside the abbey which indicates the daily availability of each beer. The monks 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 World War II, the brewery stopped supplying wholesalers and since then they only sell to individual buyers in person at the brewery or the visitor"s centre opposite. These methods all go against modern business methods, however as stated by the Father Abbott on the opening of the new brewery, "We are no brewers. We are monks. We brew beer to be able to afford being monks."
The Westvleteren "Trappist" is exclusively sold in the abbey. The "Trappist Westvleteren" can from now on only be purchased after reservation (+32 (0)70/21.00.45).
