Lenten Beer Fasting

Ever since I visited the ruins of a monastery in England I've been interested in a crazy idea. One area of the ruins was the ale house. Back in the middle ages, people processed drinking water for safety's sake. They didn't know about germs and bacteria, but they certainly knew their effects. The purification process was brewing, turning potentially dangerous water into low-alcohol beer (because it was made for drinking, not for partying). The sign at the monastery's ale house said that some monks even brewed special beers for the Lenten season, the forty days (minus Sundays) from Ash Wednesday to Easter. The monks wanted to drink just the beer, not eat any food. They especially brewed the beer for calories and nutrient, basically making liquid bread.

With further research I discovered that monks at the Saint Francis of Paula monastery at Munich were the first to ask papal permission to brew a strong beer for the Lenten fast. In honor of the holy father, they called the brew Sankt Vaterbier (or Holy Father Beer), later shortened to Salvatorbier. The recipe was based on the popular Bavarian bock beers and it became known as doppelbock, or double bock. The beer was popular enough that they started selling it outside the monastery. In 1799 the monastery closed but enterprising brewers took over the property and the recipe.

The beer has undergone some changes but is still available from Paulaner Brewery as Salvator (check their website!). A 100ml serving provides 4.5 grams of carbs and 1 gram of protein! They don't list any vitamins or minerals, but who drinks beer for its nutritional value these days?

Salvator (7.9% alcohol by volume) has a nice, coppery color that goes along with the smooth, creamy texture of this beer. There's a slightly nutty flavor with hints of bitterness. It tastes great and is satisfying.

Any popular beer is bound to have its imitators, so plenty of other breweries have gotten into the doppelbock business. They even mimic the "-ator" ending of Salvator, presumably to get some brand recognition or positive vibes from the association with the Paulaner brew.

Spaten Optimator (7.6% alcohol by volume) is darker in color--it only looks coppery with a light behind it. The flavor is malty with a notable bitterness at the end. It does not seem like it would be liquid bread! I was less impressed with this.

Troegenator Double Bock (8.2% alcohol by volume) is an "-ator" with an American translation of doppelbock. Troegs Independent Brewing is out of Pennsylvania and is creative enough that they've been on The War of Christmas Novelty Ales in 2014 and 2018. The dark copper color of Troegenator is an indication of its richness. It's got chocolate and caramel flavors along with a delightful hint of gingerbread. The flavor is enough to carry a drinker through Lent or even through a whole winter season. I liked this a lot on its own. 

Celebrator (6.7% alcohol by volume) is the blackest of the brews in this set. The texture is smooth and silky. The flavor is lightly smoky (just barely) and caramel (a bit more). I don't really taste much bread flavor, but the flavor it does have is very delightful. I could drink a lot of this. 

The fun thing about the beer is that each one comes with a little goat figure!

They got my goat, or I got theirs?

Why the goat? Bock in German is the word for ram, hence another common thing to see on the labels--a goat image (or two, if you want to emphasize the double). That Troegenator guy on the label has goat horns in his head!

Aecht Schlenkerla Eiche (8.0% alcohol by volume) is called a doppelbock but it has a more characteristic element. As the label says, it has "Schlenkerla Oak Smoke." The malt used in the brewing process is smoked in a kiln that burns oak wood. The resulting flavor is definitely smoky (think a lapsang souchong tea) and Schlenkerla is known for its rauchbier or smoke beer. This beer has a dark amber color and a smooth feel. The smoky taste gives it a lot of character, making a tricky blend with the doppelbock elements. It's not particularly bread-flavored. This beer, while delightful, probably belongs in another category. 

I am not the only one interested in spending a Lent drinking nothing but nutritional beer. A journalist in Iowa named J. Wilson tried out a home brew doppelbock for a Lenten fast. He blogged about it at Diary of a Part-Time Monk, which has subsequently been turned into a book. I read the book and found it interesting but a little underwhelming. In addition to taking on the challenge of fasting on only beer and water for forty-six days (he didn't take Sundays off as often practiced by Christians), he wanted to explore the spirituality of it. He enlisted a Protestant minister as a spiritual advisor and spent a few days at a Catholic monastery doing research and experiencing monastic life. Half-way through, he decided to read the Psalms, figuring four a day would get him finished by the end of Lent. He struggled a lot with finding time to read. He found the psalms repetitive and boring. In the afterword he explains that he's become an agnostic. He recognizes himself as a work-in-progress and hopes that he will make progress on the spiritual front. Sometimes that's the best one can do.

Read more about the German Lenten beer fast at https://www.ucatholic.com/blog/the-lenten-beer-only-fast-practiced-by-german-monks/