It’s no surprise that the Czech Republic, which has the highest beer consumption per capita in the world, has found a way to include the beverage in its bathing rituals.
At the Bernard Beer Spa in Prague, beer therapy consists of soaking in a wooden tub filled with hot water, hops and yeast for 30 minutes. For 2,390 Czech koruna, or about $93, bathers can drink an unlimited volume of beer from a tubside tap while soaking, then sleep off the buzz for another half-hour in a heated bed. Bonus: The procedure also comes with a half-liter bottle of Bernard beer as a souvenir.
Located in the basement of Hotel Metamorphis (www.hotelmetamorphis.cz/en) in the Prague 1 district, the spa is tucked away from the kinetic tourist traps in the city center. On a gloomy March morning, I discarded my clothes and hopped nude into one of the two wooden tubs. Luckily, I had no bathmates. Romana, my beer guide, poured a metal bowl of putrid green liquid into the water. The mixture immediately clumped onto my skin, leaving a gritty residue.
“Rub it into your skin,” Romana said. “It will bring energy and health. Oh, and drink as much beer as you want.”
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It was 11 a.m., but I was ready to run the tap dry. She dimmed the lights and left me alone in the small room. I filled up my first mug from the tap, fashioned like a water spigot next to the tub. The soupy water churned and bubbled around me. I drank. One mug, then two mugs down.
Relaxation dropped like a thick cloud. Whether it was the hot water or the alcohol, I am uncertain. After 30 minutes, Romana materialized out of the steam and led me to a king-size bed. She heaped a torrent of warm blankets on me, then disappeared.
I fell in and out of sleep for another half-hour, convinced that beer spas are heaven. After the treatment had concluded, I re-entered the rush of Prague daily life in a relaxed haze. Pub crawls and beer tastings just met their match.
Johnson is a freelance reporter for Tribune Newspapers.