Churches to Beer Halls

People well-versed in the Bible know the famous lines in the Book of Isaiah, "They shall beat their swords into plowshares." This is the snow of yesteryear, for you read in the Book of Gambrinus, "They will transform their churches into beer halls." It is a fact: while the number of churchgoers is declining, gesoffen wird immer (people will always booze).

Initially, Red Baron was shocked when he read in the Badische Zeitung that churches are transformed into large beer bars in the States. In Freiburg, the Luther Church, situated near the university's clinical buildings, was recently deconsecrated too ... to become a lecture hall for the medical faculty. The future multi-functional auditorium will have 460 seats.

Luther Church in Freiburg (©Joergens.mi/Wikipedia)

Back to the beer churches. Instead of an altar, you will find a brewing kettle, and beer will be served instead of wine. Names for the beers have been easy to find since the Middle Ages; the best beers are brewed by monks. Subsequently, you will find the Pious Monk dark lager, Organ Pipe pale ale, and Celestial Gold on tap or in bottles at those booming Beer and Bible Bars. Note the quadruple alliteration.

In Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, the Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh are housed in a former church building. While we read in Genesis 2:2, "And on the seventh day God came to the end of all his work, and on the seventh day he took his rest from all the work which he had done," the Pittsburg brewers completed, "On the eighth-day man created beer."

Church naves with large stained glass windows
are hard to make into condominiums (©Dake Kang/AP)

In Cincinnati, Ohio, the Taft's Ale House opened in the 167-year-old St. Paul's Evangelical Protestant Church with a "blessing of the beers" by a Catholic priest, Rev. John Kroeger. Eyes cast upward, he said, "God of all creation, you gift us with friends, food, and drink. Bless these kegs and every keg that will be brewed here. Bless all those freshened here and all those gathered in the days, months, and years to come! Amen." 

It proves that Beer is ecumenical.

*