This is not a blog of breaking news, but I couldn't avoid this -- particularly as people are phoning me about it!
The newswires here in Belgium are buzzing with information that Westvleteren is in talks with the Colruyt supermarket chain to distribute its famously delicious and equally famously difficult to find beer. Apparently the abbey needs repairs, so the monks may break with their long tradition of single-point distribution.
For those who read Flemish or can put up with a machine translation, there's more here and here.
If Colruyt can land a deal, it would be brilliant. I don't believe the romantic notion that Westvleteren's rarity somehow makes it taste better. As long as the abbey's production methods remain the same, wider availability is only to be welcomed.
So long as quality doesn't suffer, it sounds like a great move on their behalf. Trappist monks brew beer as a means to an end, that end being to financially support the monastery and other philanthropic causes. If this helps the monks to keep on monkin' it up AND we get access to a greater volume of quality Belgian brews - I say amen to that!
ReplyDeleteIndeed, as long as the beers remain unchanged it would be a great improvement over the current distribution methods - and at the same time eliminate those practices where beer shops are selling Westvleteren at outrageous prices.
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