Living on Beer

I heard a great, brief snippet on NPR—the lede: Man's Lenten Diet: 'Liquid Bread,' Also Known As Beer.

An Iowa man weathered his Lenten fast by drinking some tasty, highly caloric Doppelbock. This is, as many of you will know, my favorite style of beer (Aventinus is a wheat Doppelbock). 

Monks were the ones to first perfect these strong kinds of beers. The Trappists in Belgium and the monks in cloisters dotting Germany's gorgeous rivers—the Paulaner monks, the Kloster Weihenstephaner, Kloster Weltenburg (which is nestled on a bend in the Danube, which you can get to by breathtaking boat ride)—are the originators of some of today's tastiest brews. 

And many would brew special Fastenbier specifically for their Lenten fasts. You can thank the Paulaner monks for that idea.