Westvleteren (Belgium) (AFP)

Belgium is starting to get out of the confines imposed by the coronavirus pandemic cautiously, but its bars and restaurants will not open until next month.

The prayers of beer lovers were nevertheless answered on Thursday with the reopening of the brewery of the Abbey of Saint-Sixte, in Westvleteren, in Flanders, where one of the best Belgian Trappist beers is produced.

It is not easy to get it. Production is limited and the monks only sell their treasure by appointment to individual consumers. Until Thursday, their point of sale was closed.

Belgium experienced one of the highest per capita mortality rates in the world due to the global coronavirus pandemic, and the distancing measures were strict.

But the rules of Saint Benedict require monks to work to provide for their needs. The enthusiasts who had booked online and were ready to respect the security rules were able to go to the monastery to collect their order.

Brother Godfried detailed the instructions to AFP. "At the red light, they have to stop, so that there are only two or three people active where the transaction takes place," he said.

"We are working without exchanging money and Plexiglas has been installed," he showed.

Respect for the rules is natural for members of the Cistercian Order. It is less obvious for the laity. But their customers are ready to comply with them to get their precious beer.

For Flor Holvoet, the trip to the monastery was finally a good pretext to escape confinement. "It was the first opportunity to leave my home and take a trip; to drive here to buy world-renowned beer," he said.

Master Thomas Vuylsteke would not normally have had the time, on a working day, to devote a moment to a beer tour. But his children are not at school and he was babysitting at home.

"I ran out of beers, and last Friday I saw that we could get them, so I ordered for me and my brother-in-law, and I decided to pick them up today" , he explains.

- Royal license -

In addition, the borders of Belgium being closed, beer lovers from the rest of Europe and elsewhere could not rush to the new batch. "You must know that we live according to the rule of Benedict, the Benedictine tradition, which provides that the monks ... live by the work of their hands," he said. "Concretely, this means that we have to make a living from our brewery. It is therefore very important for us to be able to start selling again. Because that's what we live for."

The abbey was founded in 1831, when French monks arrived in Flanders to join a hermit, Jan-Baptist Victoor, who lived in a Flemish forest. They made cheese and beer for their own needs and in 1839 the Belgian king Leopold I granted them a brewer's license. The brewery has undergone several transformations and the modern brewery now produces small cuvées of three distinct Trappist beers: a blonde, and two brunettes, the 8 and the XII.

The recent explosion of interest in craft beers and rare brews has contributed to the reputation of these beers, which are popular with amateurs.

In recent years, some have sought to take advantage of this craze to drive up prices, forcing humble monks to adopt their online ordering system and on-site sales to individuals only.

© 2020 AFP