The monks elixir. My original art work (gel pen).

  One day my friend knowing my love for rare and interesting beer brought me a gift - Westvleteren 12. And before he gave it to me - he told me the story of this craft beer.  Westvleteren - Trappist beer is a brand that is made to the location of a monastery in Belgium, in the province of West Flanders. In terms of production it’s the the smallest among the ten Trappist brands. Westvleteren Abdij St. Sixtus  was founded in 1831 by Trappist monks. And seven years later, in the monastery has earned its own brewery. 

Since then, the brewing of this unique beer in the Abbey Westvleteren did not stop even during the world wars. It’s the only brewery where only monks work. Five monks engaged directly brewing, five monks watch the abbey. Specifically Westvleteren 12 is a strong dark beer with an alcohol content of 10.2%.

 In brewing they used special monastery yeast and several varieties of hops. It is brewed with using double fermentation technology when live yeast are added in to the beer during bottling and then it fermented for a long time directly in the bottle. Only then it is available for sale.

 Westvleteren 12 is made from 1940. Officially, this beer can only be sold in the shop at the abbey and in the restaurant which is located nearby. However, production is substantially less than demand, making it one of the most famous "beer rarities" in the world and wanted by every beer geek in the world. The condition of the sale of beer clearly states the prohibition of resale.   

The impressive history - is not it? And the taste - Oh - it's great! Like a hot summer evening in the orchard. More like a good port wine than the traditional beer. As it turned out, this beer has an excellent dense and full of flavor and has an oily-fruity fragrance. This story and the taste of this beer inspired my for drawing. I tried to portray the mystery of brewing this  monks elixir.

                     

Even if you do not like beer, definitely try it, it's something extraordinary. Your taste buds will thank you.

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