St. Bernardus Begins Brewing Westvleteren Under License

In 1946, the monks of Saint-Sixtus Abbey at Westvleteren licensed Evarist Deconinck to brew and market their Trappist beers at the St. Bernardus site in Watou. St. Bernardus describes the original license as a 30-year agreement, and the brewery was established next to the former cheese workshop that Deconinck had taken over from the Mont des Cats monks in the 1930s. Brewmaster Mathieu Szafranski brought brewing knowledge, recipes, and the St. Sixtus yeast to the new brewery. St. Bernardus brewed the Westvleteren beers under license until 1992, after a second 30-year agreement had been signed in 1962. When the license ended, the beers from Watou continued under the St. Bernardus name, while the Trappist name became restricted to beers brewed inside a monastery under monastic supervision.