20 nuns start brewing beer to save their convent from bankruptcy

Desperate times call for desperate measures, so they say. This saying hides a great truth, and it is that for human beings, in situations of extreme emergency or navigating a great difficulty, are capable of making very unorthodox decisions for the good of all. In short, as they say, to cure extreme evils sometimes requires extreme remedies. And this is the motto of these twenty Belgian nuns who are causing a lot of chatter on the internet about how they have shown supreme tenacity and courage in the face of adversity and have literally saved their convent from bankruptcy using some very unconventional methods!

via Inside Edition

Neil Roger/Flickr - Not the Actual Photo

This is the story of 20 very ingenious nuns from the Maredret abbey in Belgium, who, having to take on a lot of convent renovations and not having a great deal of funds, made a very courageous and counter-cultural decision. These religious women have chosen to turn to a brewer in their town and to start producing good quality, home-crafted beer themselves to pay off the debts of the convent and to continue with the rennovations. And this was choice that was apparently extremely lucky.

Here is what Sister Gertrude from Maredret Abbey said: "We were a small group of nuns without sufficient income to allow us to maintain the convent. It was, therefore, necessary to find an effective solution to generate income. The beer allowed us to satisfy this need. Our project was about respecting Nature, which consists in not destroying anything or causing any harm. A herbal beer fulfilled our goals of helping people by offering them a healthy and environmentally friendly drink. "

Max Pixel/Not The Actual Photo

And if you ask the nuns of this convent what are the natural ingredients they use to produce their beer - now very much in demand - they will answer that all the beer they produce is based on various recipes. Much depends on the different aromas they chose to include: they use cloves, juniper berries from the Maredret Altus, coriander and sage from the Maredret Triplus, and many more. Sister Gertrude states that her sisters also like the taste of the beer they produce themselves - so much so, that every Sunday they allow themselves a bottle each to celebrate their work and devotions.

Currently, their production is around 300,000 bottles of craft beer per year and there is a very strong possibility that the nuns' beer production will reach around 3 million in a couple of years, given that the two versions of the beer - Altus and Triplus - are hugely popular, not only in Belgium, but also in Italy and Spain.

Congratulations on your unconventional solution, sisters!