High in the Bavarian Alps in the Middle Ages, Benedictine monks came up with an ingenious solution to a serious problem.

The monks had been happily brewing beer in their hilltop monasteries for centuries, keeping their strength up with fresh ale and fulfilling their requirement to be self-sufficient. But, like brewers all over Europe, they had a problem with summer.

The summer months were a nightmare for brewers in those pre-refrigeration days. Stopping beer becoming infected was tricky at the best of times, but when the temperature rose the chances of keeping microbes out of the sweet, sticky ale were slim. The Prince of Bavaria even laid down the law on the matter, ruling that no beer could be made between April and September.

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