It is a Healthy Drink, Says Sister

Of the 490 (yes, 490) sisters in Mallersdorf Abbey in Bavaria, Sister Doris Englehard has the coolest job. She’s the abbey’s brewmaster, and the last brewmaster nun in Europe, which must mean the last in the world. “I love to drink beer,” she says.

“Beer is the purest of all alcoholic beverages. . . . It is a very healthy drink, as long as you do not pour it down senselessly.”

Although there is some evidence that moderate beer consumption could have health benefits, there is no agreement on just how much beer is healthy to consume. Sister Doris, for her part, believes it is beneficial for men to drink 1.5 liters, and for women to drink three-fourths of a liter, per day. She herself enjoys a daily pint.

I seem to have slacking. She also indirectly the improvement in beer over the centuries:

It’s a myth, she adds, that the beer made in abbeys nowadays is based on medieval recipes. “I cannot imagine that anyone would drink this beer if it was made with old and traditional abbey recipes, as advertisement often suggests,” she says. “That’s ridiculous. Every year the barley is different and has to be treated and processed differently. We do not even have the same sorts of barley today that existed back then.”

Update: My friend Michael Hoffman responds to the story:

A liter?
What in the blue blazes is that?
Is that the same a fathom?
Or is the same as a cubit?

He’s a good American, is Michael.