Beneath the gilded spires and medieval cobblestone streets of Bruges, the lifeblood of Belgium now flows at more than 1,000 gallons an hour.

The turn of a tap on Friday propelled the Belgian city into the future — and sent its citizens to the bar — as dignitaries and drinkers celebrated a momentous innovation: the world’s first legal beer pipeline.

The two-mile pipeline, visible in one spot through a transparent manhole cover cut into the cobblestone, carries beer from one of the country’s oldest still-operating breweries in the center of Bruges to a bottling plant on its outskirts.

The project cost about 4 million euros, or $4.5 million. But the brewery discovered an innovative way to raise the funds: promise donors free beer for life.