Patrick Sisson - Writer, Journalist, Cultural Documentarian, Music Lover

Cheers to your health: Czech beer spa offers sudsy soaks

Travel Feature
Chicago Tribune
August 10, 2008

Say what you will about the healing properties of mud baths, saunas or lavender-scented candles, but soaking in a stainless-steel tub filled with Czech beer put my body and soul at ease.

I was in the brick-lined cellar of Prave Pivni Lazni (original beer spa), run by the Chodovar brewery in the tiny Czech town of Chodova Plana, and I was about to slip naked into the first tub I’d ever seen with taps for hot water, cold water and bathing beer.

Alone behind a curtain, I disrobed and stepped in, parting the beer foam that had settled on top of the heated blend of half Il-Sano mineral water and half dark lager. Warmed to 93 degrees Fahrenheit and mixed with curative herbs, confetti-sized bits of hops and yeast, this murky bathwater was far from thirst-quenching, which made the cold glass of lager resting on a nearby empty keg so welcome.

Though the situation suggested it, this wasn’t a beer commercial or hedonistic frat party. Enveloped in the warm brew, I could hear the small talk and splish-splash of nearby couples enjoying a soak together in larger tubs. The background music was instrumental smoothness and show tunes—not Lynyrd Skynyrd—and the friendly Czech women who worked at the spa and pointed to the locker room were far from bikini-clad fantasy objects.

Chodovar brewery manager Mojmir Prokes explained that the treatment was inspired in part by ancient Egyptian beer traditions and designed by Dr. Roman Vokaty, a specialist in bath therapies, from the nearby spa town of Marianske Lazni.

“We wanted to provide wellness for our hotel guests and give them something special,” Prokes said. “It’s not a Czech tradition yet, but it will be.”

It’s not hard to imagine why this lager therapy is in the Czech Republic. There are other similar treatments to be found in the region, such as the beer swimming pool at Starkenberg brewery in Tirol, Austria. But few nationalities can boast of having such a proud brewing tradition and a special relationship with beer. Czechs drink more per capita (about 41.5 gallons per person annually) than anybody else on Earth, according to a 2007 survey, followed by Ireland and Germany. The country’s famous Saaz, or Zatec, hops, a crucial element in producing many of the world’s finest brews, recently was given protected designation-of-origin status by the European Union.

King Wenceslaus II, not to be confused with the famous Good King Wenceslaus of the 10th Century, was such a progressive leader that he allowed some of his citizens in Plzen to brew beer back in 1290, not just keeping it in the hands of nobles. Czech culture is intertwined with beer.

“Enjoyed within your limit, beer is the gift of God,” said Frantisek Blaha, a member of the Salesians of Don Bosco in Prague, a Roman Catholic religious order. He was showing me the Salesians’ special Beer Museum, a collection of thousands of beer bottles, cans, coasters and brewing paraphernalia from around the world that is stored in musty corridors of the order’s youth center. Begun by accident in 1996, it serves as a sort of unofficial history of Czech brewing.

Blaha grew up working in his parents’ small pub in the village of Suhkov and knows just how important pubs are to Czech life.

“It was the cultural center in town,” he said. “There was a lot of singing and conversation. It was the center of social life.”

Zdenek Rosa, a fourth-generation hops grower and manager of the Hop Growers Union of the Czech Republic, explained that even hops growing is a potent source of tradition. Aug. 9, the day before the annual harvest, is the feast day of St. Laurence, the patron saint of hops growers. Legend has it that he walks past the hops crop that day and must be undisturbed, so no growers enter their gardens. Hops also are the subject of “Starci na chmelu,” or “Hop Pickers,” a famous Czech musical.

The Czech brewing industry peaked about a century ago, when roughly 1,200 small breweries were in operation. Decades of war, communist collective economics and capitalist mergers have cut that number to fewer than 100, but that hasn’t affected the reputation of the country’s beer, still considered some of the world’s best, with plenty of bigger brands such as Gambrinus, Staropramen, Budvar and Pilsner Urquell as well as dozens of regional breweries.

Chodovar has been in business since at least the 16th Century, when early written documents suggest it was a family-run brewery on the site of a former castle. Now run by the Plevka family, the brewery complex dominates the small town, filled with pastel walls and red roofing tiles. The brewery sponsors an oak barrel race every year in June that draws about 30 teams and 2,000 visitors. A sign on the road leading into town greets visitors with the phrase “Welcome to Beer Wellness Land” and pictures of the spa. Since it opened in 2006, about 16,000 people, mostly Czechs and Germans, have visited the beer spa.

After I soaked in beer for 20 minutes, I was directed to the heated relaxation room, where I was wrapped, tortilla-like, in an orange towel by one of the spa specialists and laid on a bed. It was meant to help my skin, primed by the hot bath, absorb the natural health effects of the beer. Chodovar claims the beer spa helps “harmonize the functions of the organism,” soothing muscles and joints, improving complexion and providing mental rest. While blissfully at rest, it was hard to know if the beer’s natural health effects or intoxicating properties were at play.

Chodovar is far from the only place to make health claims about beer. Manufaktura, a Czech company that makes traditional crafts and cosmetics, came out with a line of beer cosmetics, including bath salts, shampoo and soap. The beer ingredients in the cosmetics impart a healthy dose of B vitamins and help soften skin, according to spokeswoman Barbora Cechova. Hops also have significant amounts of health-inducing chemicals, Rosa said.

“Beer is a source of phytoestrogens, which originate from the hops [and] are beneficial to the brain, the lungs, the cardiovascular system and bones,” Rosa said. “It seems that they have an anti-carcinogenic effect as well. Beer contains a whole range of antioxidants.”

Did this beer spa prove to be “harmonizing” and provide “effective repose of the body”? I’m no expert, but I certainly felt relaxed and refreshed after my 45 minutes in beer-wellness land. And, in case you’re wondering, tasting the bathwater isn’t the greatest idea.

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