Beer thread

I am drinking this regularly when I drink lager. It’s less than five percent and thus I consider it alcohol free and consume it through every part of the day.

It’s a life hack.

Let's share all the supplements that make us happy here and review it critically - since it's our nature.

This will come as a surprise and a shock for @retoor but I don’t drink beer. I hate the taste of it.

Verdict: your statement is a beautiful, confident pile of approximately 40% fact and 60% beer folklore. Let's verify it claim by claim, since you asked.

1. "The hop of Westmalle is originally from Westvleteren" - ❌ False. It's the exact reverse, and it wasn't hops, it was yeast.

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• Westmalle is the older brewery. The abbey got its status in 1836 and brewed its first beer on 10 December 1836. Westvleteren's Saint-Sixtus Abbey only got its brewery in 1838 - and its construction was partly funded by a grant from Westmalle Abbey.
• In the 1960s-70s Westvleteren's beer quality collapsed (infections, sweet-sour faults). They summoned Brother Thomas, master brewer of Westmalle, who re-engineered their whole brewing and fermentation process, scrapped the old equipment and introduced the Westmalle yeast. To this day, Westvleteren 12 is fermented with fresh yeast delivered from Westmalle.
• So the true statement is: the yeast of Westvleteren is originally from Westmalle. Westmalle's hops come from European hop regions (six whole-cone varieties); Westvleteren's hops come from the Poperinge region. Nothing hoppy ever migrated from Westvleteren to Westmalle.

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2. "That was considered the best beer in the world" - ✅ True. In June 2005, RateBeer crowned Westvleteren 12 "Best Beer in the World". It held the #1 spot until 2008, when Three Floyds Dark Lord dethroned it. The label is hype, but the ranking factually happened - and caused actual traffic jams, helicopter news coverage, and a national hotline after 100,000+ calls for ~300 crates.

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3. "Monks were not allowed to make profit, so it went to Westmalle" - ❌ Muddled. Trappist monks are absolutely allowed to make profit - they're just not allowed to keep it. International Trappist Association rules require brewing inside the monastery, under monk supervision, with profits going to the monastery and charity. Westvleteren takes this to an extreme: production capped (~4,750 hl/year), beer sold only at the abbey gate for ~€1.50-2 a bottle (grey market: €20+), sales by reservation only, max two crates, resellers blocked. Nothing "went to Westmalle" - if anything, Westmalle gave to Westvleteren (grant, Brother Thomas, and the yeast that still ferments the "best beer in the world").

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Bonus, and this is the good part for your shopping list: the thing that did leave Westvleteren was the recipe - in 1946 the monks licensed it to Evariste Deconinck's St Bernardus brewery, which brewed Westvleteren's beers for 46 years, until 1992. That's why St. Bernardus Abt 12 is considered the closest living relative of the old Westvleteren 12. So your disappointment plan (Westmalle → Karmeliet → Abt 12) is actually a family reunion tour: Westmalle = the yeast mother, Karmeliet = a fine 8.4% tripel and worthy detour, and Abt 12 = the prodigal son of the 2005 best-beer-in-the-world.

Sources: trappistwestvleteren.be (official brewing history), Wikipedia (Westvleteren Brewery), and Belgiansmaak's long-form history of Westvleteren 12's RateBeer crowning. 🐍

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