Monastic brew houses have come a long way

For centuries, beer making was the largest known business for monasteries. Monks gathered together and brewed their own beer as it was not only a great alternative to water, but also lent a good hand at making some quick cash. Monastic brew houses were generally found near moving water bodies, where grain mills were set up and powered by water. Many old-style brew houses were still found in the 13th and 14th century until they were destroyed by the World War II bombing. With time, the demand for home brewed beer increased, leading to an escalation in daily consumption.

Beer making during the time had variability. The first ‘sparging’ (washing of the malted grain to remove sugar and starch) would produce the strongest ale, and the consecutive spargings that followed would produce weaker ales out of the same batch. The first sparging would be the strongest tasting with the highest alcohol content, in comparison to the subsequent ones. The lightest batch contained less than 3% alcohol and was called ‘small beer’, best suited for light drinkers, women and children. Nonetheless, folks did not toddle around drunk all the time. Life was not easy back then. People worked doubly hard and lived off poor diets. Beer was able to provide the necessary calories and vitamins along with some respite after a long working day.

The era of monastic brewing thrived till Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries of England, in his contempt for the Roman Catholic Church. The beginning of the decline of the monastic breweries led to the inception of commercial breweries.