Chartreuse (liqueur) was not a secret but well known. At the death of the pharmacist, his heirs returned the manuscript to the monks who had been back at the Monastery since 1816. In 1838, they developed Yellow Chartreuse, a sweeter version of the Green Chartreuse, 40% alcohol liqueur (80° proof). The monks were again expelled from the monastery following a French law in 1903, and their real property, including the distillery, was confiscated by the government. The monks took their secret recipe to their refuge in Tarragona, Catalonia, and began producing their liqueurs with the same label, but with an additional label
Ettal Abbey and early 1980s. The monastery runs a brewery, a distillery, a bookstore, an art publishing house, a hotel, a cheese factory joint venture, and several smaller companies. The distillery produces Ettaler Kloster Liqueur, a herbal liqueur which, like that of the Carthusian monks, comes in sweeter yellow and more herbal green varieties. In the tradition of the "Ritterakademie", the abbey established a secondary school (""Gymnasium"") specialising in the humanities and modern languages, with a boarding house. The boarding school and its clergy were charged with sexual and physical child abuse and have been under investigation since 2 March 2010 by