Westmalle Extra Trappist – Belgium

REFRESHING, LIGHT & FULL OF FLAVORS

Westmalle Extra may have a low alcohol content of 4.8%, but it has a surprisingly full taste. This golden Trappist beer has a very refreshing and thirst-quenching character. With fruity notes and rich aromas, Extra provides a truly Westmalle taste experience.

In line with our brewing philosophy, Extra is brewed with the purest ingredients: selected barley varieties, a balanced blend of hop flowers, native yeast and pure water from the deep Diestian layer. And as with our Dubbel and Tripel, it is a top-fermented beer, including typical bottle fermentation.

Did you know that Extra is one of the oldest Westmalle beers? What’s more, it is part of a long tradition, as old as the brewery itself. Let’s go back in time to 1836. It was then that the Trappists from Westmalle decided to brew their own beer.

They needed their own local drink to consume during meals. In our part of the world it was logical that it would be beer. All this in accordance with the monastic rule of St. Benedict, which serves as the guiding principle of the Trappists.

MONKS’ BEER SINCE 1836. THE INSPIRING STORY OF WESTMALLE EXTRA

So the monks began to brew beer, which first resulted in dark table beer. We know from the scriptures that some time later wheat beer also appeared. At the beginning of the twentieth century, there was again talk of the light beer “Extra Gersten” (exta barley): the predecessor of Extra. All this time, the lighter variant was invariably on the monks’ own table. They were happy to offer their Dubbel and Tripel to the outside world, but within the abbey walls they chose a raw quality that better suited their lifestyle.