Belgian monks resurrect brewery after two-century break
GRIMBERGEN: Belgian monks at the Grimbergen abbey are on the verge of brewing beer again after a break of more than 200 years. The abbey, whose emblem is a phoenix with the Latin motto “Ardet nec consumitur”, meaning “Burned but not destroyed”, was ransacked and had its brewery smashed in 1795 by French troops. But a tradition of beer making that had dated back to the 13th century will be revived with plans to build a new brewery at the monastic complex in Grimbergen, a town north of Brussels. It expects to produce its first ales in late 2020. “For us, it’s important to look to the heritage, to the tradition of the fathers for brewing beer because it was always here,” Father Karel Stautemas told Reuters on Tuesday, a day after the local council approved the brewery plan. “Brewing and religious life always came together,” said Karel, one of 11 Norbertine canons living in the abbey. After a course at the Scandinavian School of Brewing in Copenhagen begun this year, he will become one of five to six workers in the new brewery. Marc-Antoine Sochon, an expert at Carlsberg who will be the project’s brewmaster, said the 10,000 hectolitre-per-year facility aimed to make limited edition versions of beer already brewed on a commercial scale under the Grimbergen name. The abbey, founded in 1128, has been tied to commercial brewers since the 1950s when local brewer Maes asked the monks to use the Grimbergen name and emblem on its “abbey beer”. (Reuters)
Cambodia’s royal oxen predict plentiful rice harvest
PHNOM PENH: Cambodia’s royal oxen predicted a plentiful harvest of rice, the country’s biggest crop, at an ancient ploughing ceremony on Wednesday. King Norodom Sihamoni presided over the televised annual ritual in which two oxen are given offerings after ploughing a field, marking the start of the rice-growing season in the Southeast Asian country. Dressed in ornate robes and colourful headdresses, the oxen ate 85% of the rice and beans on offer and 90% of the corn in decorated bowls – indicating a bountiful harvest. Palace astrologers make their predictions each year depending on the oxen’s choice of crops and the amount they eat. “I pray … for seasonal rain and regular weather,” Korng Ken, a Brahmin priest dressed in traditional white robes, said at the ceremony in Takeo province. He prayed that “Cambodia avoid any natural disasters that would destroy the agriculture harvests which are the lives of the people and country.” The good omen will be welcomed in Cambodia after the European Union imposed tariffs in January on rice from Cambodia and Myanmar in a bid to protect EU producers. Cambodia has since seen a surge in rice exports to China. Cambodia’s ceremony mirrors similar traditions in Thailand and Myanmar in which oxen ceremonially plough the ground and then choose between eating bowls of rice, beans, corn water, grass, sesame seeds or alcohol. Thailand’s royal oxen predicted a good harvest at a ploughing ceremony this month presided over by newly crowned King Maha Vajiralongkorn and his queen. (Reuters)