How Monks Spiced Their Days Up by Brewing and Drinking Beer

Monks in the middle ages lived a very frugal life. Their hair was shaved off (the tonsure was the fashion back then); they weren’t allowed to possess any property and had little contact with home. Leaving the monastery was also not permitted. Breaking one of the vows they took could expose them to severe punishments.

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Up to the middle ages, the task of baking and brewing was primarily assigned to women in society. Throughout all communities, water was hardly drinkable and impure. Hygiene in most places was also poor. Fermented drinks like wine and beer didn’t contain the risk of becoming sick and contained moreover alcohol that was used for disinfection. So, the intake of beer became rather a matter of daily life and survival. Beer, partially for this reason, was equally consumed by women, men and even by children.

Like all other communities, medieval monks had to provide for themselves and being self-sufficient included farming, harvesting, baking and brewing. They were very intelligent and inventive, too. Their meals lacked in something that could make their meals more interesting and could give them at least some pleasure after all. And so they looked out for something legal that could complement their dishes. Things were about to change.

In times where they had to fast, they suffered most. So, they were just looking for something to spice up their rather dull meals with a nice taste, something that could give them some pleasure and fill their empty stomachs as well. This is when they turned their attention to making beer. Since beer was a liquid, enjoying a quantum of beer did not break their fasting and, as a result, was permitted. But one usually was not enough. They drank it in big tankards, and some monks were reportedly having up to 5 liters a day.

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A short time after discovering this most enjoyable drink and coming to appreciate for this marvelous brew, they discovered that they were producing a surplus of beer. So, it became obvious that beer brewing could mean a serious business for medieval monks: they made their beer brewery business plan. This is how making beer actually became a business. The official right to brew beer came with a small fee, and they gladly paid for it. It also allowed them to sell their beer in the early monastery pubs. There, it was not only enjoyed by the monks but by everybody who came by.

People liked the beer brewed by the monks, and you have to admire their art of doing it. They put in a lot of effort and ensured that the beer was of great quality. No surprise then that their beer became popular way beyond the borders of monasteries and monastery pubs. The demand caused the beer brewing trade to flourish and to become another very well recognized trade of that time.

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Even today you have numerous beer breweries still named after the monks or monasteries who once started this serious industry. Tradition lived forth for instance with the “Andechs Monastery Brewery” founded in 1466 by the monks of the Andechs monastery, the “Franziskaner Weissbier Brewery Munich”, where the Franciscan monks took the initiative of brewing beer in 1363, or with the “Paulaner Brewery Munich” founded in 1634 by the Minim friars and named after the founder of their order, Francis of Paola.

Cheers!