Belgian abbey raises brewery from ashes after 200 years

Abbot Erik De Sutter and father Stefaan Verstraeten taste beer after blessing beer tanks at the Belgian Abbey of Grimbergen, which returns to brewing after a break of more than 200 years with a new microbrewery in Grimbergen, Belgium May 26, 2021. REUTERS/Yves Herman

GRIMBERGEN, Belgium (Reuters) - Priests of Belgium's Grimbergen Abbey have begun brewing for the first time in more than two centuries, with a microbrewery making special editions of the mass-market beer bearing their abbey's name.

The abbey, whose emblem is a phoenix with the Latin motto "Ardet nec consumitur" (Burned but not destroyed), was twice burned down and ransacked by French troops in 1798, ending a tradition of beer-making dating back to the 12th century.