For years, the abbey has only brewed for its own use. It was only from 1856 that the monks started to occasionally sell their brews at the gate. In fact, this side-hustle was so successful that the brewery had to expand in 1865 - and later again in 1897 - to keep up with the demand. Unfortunately, the world wars were not kind to the abbey; Westmalle’s brewing hall was completely destroyed during the First World War and it had to halt beer production for a few years.

However, upon resuming its beer-making activities, Westmalle was able to get back into the market with the production of 2 types of beers: “extra gersten” (extra barley) and “dubbel bruin” (double brown). In 1921, the monks decided to sell their beers through beer merchants, which only further skyrocketed sales. To keep up, the abbey installed a new brewing room, fermentation room, and a workshop in the early 1930s.

In 1926, the monks adjusted one of the traditional beer recipes of the past to become somewhat heavier, and the revised recipe served as the basis for Westmalle’s current Dubbel. The brewery’s dubbel tasted so good that it became the benchmark of this newly invented beer style - which was named after the word “double”. Yup, this meant that the beer had twice of everything. The Westmalle Dubbel starts off sweet with notes of caramel malt and fruity esters and ends off with a slight bitterness from the earthy hops.

Like the other Trappist breweries, Westmalle Brewery uses the Authentic Trappist Product (ATP) logo on their beers. In order to use this certification, the brewery must fulfil the following requirements:

1) The product(s) must be made within the walls of a Trappist abbey
2) The product(s) must be made by or under the supervision of the monastery community
3) Most of the profit must be spent on social work