(Westvleteren, BELGIUM) – As many readers probably know by now, I’m relatively young so I don’t recall the last time that Westvleteren beers have been legally available outside of the abbey or the nearby cafe…if ever. So this is a special moment for the monks who make Westvleteren XII. For most of the past decade, XII has been regarded by the two largest web communities for beer, RateBeer.com and BeerAdvocate.com, as the best beer in the world.

It is a ‘one-time only’ event. From what I’ve translated from Dutch news reports, those who purchase a new issue of either The Standard, Le Vif or Knack Magazine when they hit newsstands on November 2nd will find a voucher giving them the opportunity to purchase one Westvleteren XII gift box beginning the following day. The gift boxes will be available for pick-up exclusively at Colruyt retail stores.

What I can’t tell is whether there is a voucher in every copy and the boxes are first-come, first-serve until sold out or whether only some copies will contain a voucher.

93,000 boxes have been produced, each containing six bottles of the beer and two glasses. At 25 euros a box, the abbey stands to receive 2.3 million euros in revenue from the project, a portion of which (minus all costs incurred to produce and sell these) will be put toward restoration of the abbey.

Original reports here and here.