resides in a Trappist abbey (officially known as Our Lady of the Sacred Heart) located in the town of Westmalle, Belgium, in the province of Antwerp. It was founded as a religious house, or priory, in 1794 by several Cistercian monks. It became a Trappist abbey in 1836, and for the sustenance of the monks a small brewery was built within the walls. In 1856 the abbey began selling beer to the public in very small quantities directly from their abbey. The demand for their beer gradually increased, leading to construction of additional brewing capacity in 1865 and again in 1897. By 1921 the beer from Westmalle abbey was offered for the first time in the general marketplace. The popularity of the beer necessitated another brewery expansion in the 1930s, and since then the brewery has generally been a leader in environmental and safety standards. It has also been a leader in brewing, as the Westmalle beers have proven to be highly influential. The ingredients used for brewing Westmalle beers include water, yeast, barley malt, hops, and sugar. The water comes from a deep well on the brewery property and is considered hard water, with many dissolved minerals. It is treated before being used in the brewery. Even though the law did not require it at the time, a waste treatment plant was installed in the 1960s to ensure that water was returned to the environment in a clean state. The brewery’s use of hops is a bit unusual in that only whole cone hops are used, while many modern breweries, including some Trappists, now use either liquid hop extract or pelletized hops. The yeast at Westmalle is a proprietary strain that is cultured by the brewery. It imparts some of the distinctive spicy and floral aromas found in the beers. Finally, the sugar used for brewing is Belgian candi sugar, which is fully fermentable and gives the beer a lighter body than expected, thus providing a smooth balance to the beer. See candi sugar. The candi sugar is liquid in form and comes in a light color with a light flavor, or a dark color with a complex toffee-like flavor.

The Westmalle abbey produces three types of beer: Westmalle Extra, Westmalle Dubbel, and Westmalle Tripel. The extra is a low alcohol (4.8% ABV) beer brewed twice a year for the monks to consume at the abbey during lunch. It is a golden- colored “table beer” with a smooth light flavor and is not available to the general public. The dubbel is a 7% ABV beer with a chestnut brown color and high amount of carbonation resulting in a very rich head of foam. The dubbel and extra are the two oldest styles of beer made by the brewery and date to the start of the brewery in 1836. The dubbel is a very flavorful, complex beer and the modern version can be traced to a reformulation of the beer that took place in the 1920s. The tripel is a 9.5% ABV beer with a pale, golden color. It has a very complex flavor as a result of the balance between the light malt, yeast, and hops. Westmalle Tripel was first brewed in 1934 and is widely considered to be the original of the tripel style. In 1956 it was reformulated and has remained the same since then. All of the Westmalle beers are partially bottle-conditioned and so develop a mature flavor in the bottle, as well as a very full level of carbonation. Both beers are available in both 33 cl (11.2 ounces) bottles and a 75 cl (25.4 ounces) bottle sealed with a cork and wirecage.

In 1998, Brother Thomas, the recently retired head brewer of Westmalle, acted as the technical advisor for the revival of brewing at the Trappist monastery Achel. He brought the distinctive Westmalle yeast with him, and thus the influence of the Westmalle brewers reached one step further down through time.

See also achel brewery, belgium, and trappist breweries.