Westvleteren Abbey, famous for its Trappist beer, is now at peace with Dutch supermarket chain Jan Linders after a dispute regarding the supermarket's pricing of beer made by the monks.
The religious community announced that is dropping all legal proceedings after the supermarket chain promised never to sell the prized beer in its stores again.
On 8 March this year, Jan Linders carried out a spectacular commercial operation that charged customers €10 per 33-centilitre bottle of Westvleteren beer. This was five times more expensive than when sold by the abbey. But with the beer only produced in small quantities and difficult to obtain, the supermarket was still able to make a sizeable profit.
Within a day, the 300 displays in some sixty shops were all empty, even though each customer could only buy a maximum of two bottles. Westvleteren did not hide its disapproval of the promotion, deeming it a violation of its policy on ethical business practices.
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The community had sought to take legal action against the chain but Jan Linders subsequently made a commitment never to put Westvleteren beer on its shelves again. The monks will now review their sales system.
An investigation is also underway to find out how Jan Linders managed to obtain so much Westvleteren Trappist beer, which was named the best beer in the world by an American website ten years ago.
Currently, in order to purchase a 24-bottle crate, it is necessary to contact the abbey by telephone and pick up the shipment on an agreed date. The monks add as a condition on their website that their beer “is sold exclusively to individuals, who cannot market it afterwards.”
