The Brew World....The Best Beer In The World

If you want to try the number one rated beer in the world, pack your bags because you're headed to Belgium. Westvleteren, Belgium to be exact. It is home to the Westvleteren Brewery where the Westvleteren Abt 12° is brewed by monks in the St Sixtus monastery and is in fact the only Trappist (catholic monk) brewery where the monks still do all of the brewing.

This brew is one of three ales that the Westvleteren Brewery produces. The Westvleteren Blonde and the Westvleteren 8° also rank high on the ratebeer.com top 50.

It is adored by international beer critics, which is good enough for me, and somewhat exclusive. You can't just walk up and buy this stuff. The monks won't even talk to you if you're non-monostatic, they will most likely point you in the direction of the visitors center. You must call ahead for reservation with their "beerphone" and are only allowed one 24 bottle case per car. A case will cost you €33.00 (roughly $43.00) and you must purchase it in the brewery itself, or at a abbey-owned cafe and visitors center.

And don't expect to see the top brew anywhere in stores, these bottles don't even have labels. But some liquor stores offer the trappist beer Chimay, which has always been considered a top beer. Being brewed by trappist monks also, it might be as close as you're going to get to a Belgian brewery with little monks running around drinking beer (the best beer).