But did you know that Catholic monks once brewed beer specifically for a liquid-only Lenten fast?
Back in the 1600s, Paulaner monks moved from Southern Italy to the Cloister Neudeck ob der Au in Bavaria. “Being a strict order, they were not allowed to consume solid food during Lent,” the current braumeister and beer sommelier of Paulaner Brewery Martin Zuber explained in a video on the company’s website.
They needed something other than water to sustain them, so the monks turned to a common staple of the time of their region – beer. They concocted an “unusually strong” brew, full of carbohydrates and nutrients, because “liquid bread wouldn’t break the fast,” Zuber noted.
beer fast (https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/these-17th-century-monks-did-a-beer-fast-for-lent-90886)
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All this talk of beer can have an effect on a man.
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(http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TPlOeWWlIHI/Urjvg7P9yiI/AAAAAAAAbjM/4oSaB6r5cpw/s1600/ChocolateManifesto.jpg)
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If only I had not given up chocolate for Lent!