The present abbey was founded in 1831. Before that time, there had already been three monasteries in the same place or in the vicinity. When the new abbey was built in 1831, the construction workers were contractually entitled to two glasses of beer a day. To save money, the fathers decided to brew the drink themselves. However, this beer was not the Westvleteren of today, but a variant with an alcohol percentage of barely 2 percent. Later, the fathers began brewing Trappist to earn a living. Around 1900, the brewery purchased a truck for delivery. Beer sales began as early as 1838. The brewery was modernized in 1871 and survived both world wars. In 1945, the abbot decided that production would be restricted because the brewery activities demanded too much of the energy of the religious community. The following year he decided to entrust brewing and commercialization to the Sint Bernardus Brewery under license. A limited brewery activity continued to take place in the monastery brewery. The license was renewed for 30 years in 1962. When it came to an end in 1992, the entire brewery activity was again taken over by the abbey. In the meantime, a great deal of European and other regulations had been drawn up. For example, the Trappist beer label may only be used if the beer is actually brewed within a Trappist monastery. It was decided to limit production to what yields enough