Trappist is the name given to the "Order of Cistercians of Strict Observance". Its name belongs to products made in Trappist monasteries, and one such product is beer.

On the 28th February 1962, the magistrate of the Ghent Tribunal of Commerce declared that tradesmen making wrongful use of the name "Trappist" would be prosecuted for unfair trade practices, as the name refers to the origin of the product. During the following decades the distinction between Trappist beers and so-called "abbey beers", which are brewed to a style similar to Trappist beer, became less clear due to misleading advertisements and abundant bottle labels using smiling rosy-cheeked monks to suggest a ‘monastic’ origin.

To enable consumers to distinguish clearly between genuine Trappist beers and products, which attempt to give themselves a monastic image, the appellation "Authentic Trappist Product" was created in 1997.

This appellation guarantees not only that the product is of monastic origin but that the products sold fulfil the quality, tradition and criteria created by the Trappist community. Although this appellation can be bestowed on other Trappist products (cheese, meats, etc.) beer was the first to receive it.

Six abbeys were then permitted to use the Trappist appellation: Chimay, Orval, Rochefort, Westmalle and Westvleteren in Belgium, and Koningshoeven (La Trappe) in Holland. AND NO OTHERS!

At the beginning of 1999, the Dutch Trappists of Koningshoeven lost the appellation after selling their brewery to Bavaria Breweries of Lieshout in north Brabant.

However, on the 10^th December 1999, the Achelse Kluis St Benedict Abbey in Hamont-Achel, which ceased brewing at the commencement of the 1st World War, re-opened their brewery. The monks of Achelse Kluis received the Trappist appellation, so now all the abbey beers bearing the "Authentic Trappist Product" label are now only brewed in Belgium.

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