Drinker's Diet

From “History Defined”:

In the 1600s, some monks in Germany only drank beer and water during their 40-day fast for lent. They concocted an “unusually strong” brew, full of carbohydrates and nutrients.

In 2011, a journalist attempted to re-create their fast. He lost 25 pounds during the ordeal.

Fom “Empires Unchained”:

The beer the monks developed for this purpose still exists and is still brewed by the same institution.

The Paulaner brewery in Munich traces its origin directly to the Minim friars of Neudeck ob der Au, who began brewing their Salvator doppelbock in the 17th century specifically as liquid sustenance during Lenten fasting.

The name Salvator reflected its quasi-sacramental purpose.

When the monastery was secularized in 1799 during the Napoleonic reorganization of Bavaria, the monks’ brewing operation was sold off and eventually became one of the founding breweries of what is now a major commercial operation.

The strong dark bock style they developed for religious austerity became so popular with Munich’s secular population that other breweries copied it, the suffix “ator” on any German doppelbock name, from Optimator to Celebrator, is a direct commercial tribute to the monks’ fasting beer.

A brewing tradition invented for self-denial became one of the most commercially imitated beer styles in Germany.

And you can still get it; whether you should is another matter. Another example of Not Safe For Work?