St Sixtus Abbey in Westvleteren, Flanders, is one of the world’s 14 official Trappist beer producers. Buyers can purchase a crate of its Westvleteren beer for around €45 (£40), around €1.80 per bottle.
Trappist monks do not profit from the sales of their beer
As a rule, the monks ask customers not to sell their product to third parties. The abbey’s sales have traditionally been limited to private customers who order by phone before collecting a maximum of two crates in person.
But profiteers have been ignoring their “ethical values” for selling the brew, forcing them to go online to dampen demand on the black market.