Catalogue no. BBG179
Glasses fundraising glass
Exhibit information
Beer style Tripel A strong, pale Belgian ale traditionally associated with Trappist and abbey brewing, combining substantial strength with a relatively light appearance.
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Explainers Glass style Goblet A stemmed glass with a broad bowl, traditionally associated with stronger Belgian beers, particularly Trappist and abbey ales.
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Explainers Curator’s Notes This small Westvleteren XII tasting glass comes from the abbey’s 2011–12 fundraising campaign to help finance new buildings at the Sint-Sixtus Abbey.
The glass follows the familiar Westvleteren goblet/chalice form, but in a much smaller tasting size and with a more elaborate finish. A gold rim runs around the mouth, while the front carries the Westvleteren name and XII in gold. The XII refers to Westvleteren 12, the abbey’s famous strong dark ale, rather than to the year 2012. The numeral is also moulded into the foot at both front and rear.
On the reverse is the Latin inscription “Ad aedificandam abbatiam adiuvi” — roughly, “I helped to build the abbey.” The wording was used on special bottles and glasses sold as part of the “bouwsteen” fundraising campaign. In Belgium, special boxes contained six bottles of Westvleteren 12 and two of these tasting glasses; later, the beer was also given an unusually wide international release to raise further funds for the abbey building project.
The glass is therefore more than a decorative variant. It records a rare moment when the monks temporarily relaxed Westvleteren’s famously restricted distribution model in order to support a specific building project at the abbey.
