For over 200 years, the monks of Westmalle have been choosing to live a life of prayer and work. True to the Rule of Saint Benedict, they ensure their own means of sustenance. For this reason, there is a farm, a cheese dairy and a brewery inside the walls of the Trappist abbey. The monastery, Abdij der Trappisten van Westmalle, is located in the village of West Malle, Province of Antwerp, Belgium, and was founded in 1794 by a group of monks from Abbey of La Trappe fleeing the French Revolution. The monks adopted some of the rules of their former Trappist abbey, including one that allowed the monks to drink one measure of cider or table beer each day. The monks opted for beer, and the Westmalle brewery was born.