Funfact: St. Sixtus Abbey, the creator and first producer of Westvleteren beers, made an agreement with St. Bernardus brewerie to produce the beer (so they transfered all the recipies from St. Sixtus to St. Bernardus). But in 1992 the Trappist Association ruled that Trappist beers can be only produced inside monasteries to be considered "trappist". So, in that year, the Westvleteren beers production returned to the St. Sixtus Abbey, and the St. Bernardus brewerie started to produce the beer "St. Bernardus 12" with a pretty similar recipie than the "Westvleteren 12" beer. So, it's said that St. Bernardus 12 is a "clone" of Westvleteren 12.
Tip: if you want to know how to pronounce a dutch word: open google translate, set it to translate dutch or nederlands to english, type the dutch word in the dutch part and click on the microphone in the bottom left. One problem there, you get it in a netherlands accent, not flemish, and that is different
That’s good to know. I try but sometimes it’s not easy at the time or time efficient to look things up, but I do try when I have time. Thanks for watching
Certified Belgian here. I have been to West Vleteren and had their 12. It's great but IMO not really worth all the hype. I prefer the Rochefort and the St Bernardus comes really close. Never been to the St Bernardus brewery but it looks like a cool place to visit so I might convince some friends to go.
Thanks for sharing your perspective. Yes, Rochefort and St Bernardus are also amazing beers. The Rochefort 8 is my wife’s favorite. I can get it here in the USA but it’s $7us for a 330ml bottle. Gotta pay to pay for good beer I guess. Thanks for watching!
You just went to my 3 favorite places in the world, Helleketel with Lena, bar Bernard in Watou and de vrede in Westvleteren. But for me it is only 20 minute drive 😂
Hey has anyone gone there without a car? I will be visiting Belgium this summer and would like to go to these two places. I have a good idea of how to get to Poperinge, but from there to the breweries I am a bit lost. Are taxis an option or some kind shuttle service?
Hello and thanks for watching. I’m not sure that would be feasible without a car unless you maybe stay in poperinge and get a bike. I recommend an electric bike. I wish we would have done that.
You can also stay in Ypres where there is more transportation possibilities and tourists. An electric bike is the best. BTW in Ypres there are now a lot of café with lot (i mean a lot) of local beers, and the Kazematten brewery (proprietary of st Bernardus). Definitely eat 'stoofvlees' in St Bernardus brewery. Bonus: there is also a brewery in Oost Vleteren (east-vleteren). Have a nice stay! Flemish people are very nice people 😊
@@sledgeHammerRulez hey thank for the info, I'm gonna look into Ypres and transportation options from there. I'll also make sure to take your recommendations into account 💪🏼🍻
Did you ride from Poperinge to Watou? What route? What about riding from Pop to Watou to Vleteren to Pop? Its around 30 miles per Google, doable for me but would it be wise?
Check out www.toerismewesthoek.be/nl/bierfietsroute-poperinge-vleteren#route-on-map We started in Watou and went to Westvleteren and St Bernardus. Bike ride was great but electric bikes would have been perfect. I doubt you can get Uber or taxi there. They are small towns
Ended up taking a bus from Poperinge into Watou, got dropped off in a cornfield, a local drove us to St B 🥰. Ebiked to Westy and had W12’s, got a six pack, next day the sales director at St B drove us to Poperinge. Got lucky! Thanks for your videos we were able to do much more!
@@dadisphat6426 having tried several we get in California, even those tasted way better being fresher like Duvel, Straffe, Leffe, Grimbergen which we visited their breweries. The beer festival was a huge hit, tried a few great beers, forgot all of them, i shoulda wrote them down! I'd say W12 was because it was my first time having it. De Garre was up there too - went there because of your vid. Missed out on the oldest pub in Belgium, Struise, Cantillon, and others were closed while we were in those areas but I brought home some Struise and W12!
