Beer-Brewing Monks Lose Suit Over Permit for Bar in Monastery

Marblehead, Mass., didn’t violate monks’ religious rights when it suspended the building permit issued to them in order to build a facility where they hoped to sell the beer they brew, the First Circuit said.

St. Paul’s Foundation and the Shrine of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Patron of Sailors, Brewers and Repentant Thieves were granted the permit to redevelop the property on which their shrine is located.

One area of the complex was designed to serve as an area where the monks could brew beer in the Orthodox Christian tradition. Another area was designated as a chapel, and the third ...