The Wall Street Journal ran a great article on the St. Sixtus monastery and their legendary Westvleteren ales.

From the article: 

Two American Web sites, Rate Beer and Beer Advocate, rank the strongest of Westvleteren's three products, a dark creamy beer known as "the 12," best in the world, ahead of beers including Sweden's Närke Kaggen Stormaktsporter and Minnesota's Surly Darkness. "No question, it is the holy grail of beers," says Remi Johnson, manager of the Publick House, a Boston bar that has Westvleteren on its menu but rarely in stock.

As the article explains, the beers are extremely hard to find because the monks brew in very small quantities and don't want their beer to be resold.  I've never had any of the Westvleteren beers. A quick internet search confirmed that these beers are rare and pricey.  You can find them, but once you factor in shipping, a single bottle could cost you $30 (depending on which of their 3 beers you want and how old the bottle is).

But there's a moral question here: if these monks don't want their beer to be sold to the masses, should we ignore their request and buy it online? 

While it won't be tremendously affordable, I think I'd prefer to pay a visit to St. Sixtus to sample their wares.