People Are Selling Trappist Beer for Five Times the Price — These Monks Aren't Having It

Say what now?

But if there's no profit, how to they fund those causes?

 

They're infused with Jeebus

 

Ah! The Ultimate Adjunct*!

(*Or, you know, "imaginary gimmick" - take your pick, while you still can.)

 

There IS profit. Profit is mainly used to fund charity.
Even half of Westmalle's net profit is reserved for charity.

 

Yeah, of course - that's my point. It's the International Trappist Association’s "strict criteria" which claimed "Brewing is not for profit" in the article.

And, in the case of the other Trappist beers, profit is also made by the importers, distributors and retailers.

 

Originally Westy beers could only be bought by the case, at the Abbey. You had to drive there (the Abbey is not far to the east of Ypres, near the French border), wait in line, and the number of cases was limited. The Abbey recommended calling ahead (and not being discouraged if put on hold) to find out which beers were available and when to go to get a space in line. This all created artificial scarcity (you couldn't just buy a single or a six pack anywhere) and the beer's attendant cult (pun implied). It was also open to abuse. I guess the original idea was to cut out the middle man and deliver directly to the consumer (as to the congregation at Mass--although technically the priest is a middle man between God and the faithful, now that I think of it) but it backfired and bottles were sold at an absurd markup in Brussels and then throughout the world. So it makes sense to distribute it in a more conventional way.

 

And all of this obviously had no effect what so ever on how the beer was ultimately rated by beer nerds on a certain website either.

 

That's every beer that requires a membership, is limited or requires a membership.

 

I agree with the monks that the profits all should fund their favored charities. Easy to understand how seeing all that profit go to others would rankle folks, even ones who spend their lives "unrankling" themselves with lives of service and contemplation.

My one comment about their attempts to stop the black market is- good luck with that, perhaps you'll be the first ever to succeed at it.

 

Or is he an additive?

 

He definitely provides additional fermentable sugars

 

Obviously where the phrase "Oh, sweet Jesus" came from

 

"Brewing is not for profit" goes back to the adagio from the Cistercienzers "Ora et labora" (Pray And Work). Prayal is self-evident (although not in these days; Stift Engelszell only has 4 monks left and is planning to close down, date unknown). Work means that the monks can work on the land that God has given them and they can live on the proceeds from the work they perform on the land, either by making wine, beer, cheese, honey, whatever. "Brewing is not a profit" means that profit is not the objective, however it is allowed to make profit.

Originally and years ago, there was no limit on the amount of crates. This dates from the time there were 3 brown Westvleteren beers and the blond version was not born yet. So this dates back before the whole Westy hype started. Those were the days.

 

I’m surprised InBev hasn’t bought out Westy yet and turned the corporation into a tax exempt religious group.

 

What's demand/pricing for Westy like these days? When I was last in Belgium, it was pretty much everywhere, but marked up quite a bit. Not counting In De Vrede, I think the cheapest I saw it was €11 and the most was €25. Those were prices for 12. The blonde and dubbel (which I actually prefer) were about 25% less. That was before the bottom fell out of non-Lambic Belgian beers, though.