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| The surprising wellness trend based on beer |
| 2026-03-08 |
| [BBC] Beer spas have recently opened in Iceland, Spain and the US – but they take their cue from an older tradition in a country with a long history as a beer bastion: the Czech Republic. The stained-glass image of one of greatest scientists in history – 16th-Century Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe – looked down on me as I prepared jump into a giant 1,000-litre water-filled oak tub. Assisting me was Nikola Skypalova, who was holding big wooden ladles brimming with key elements to add into the water. "This is hops – it relieves stress from your body and also opens up your pores," she said, pouring it into the tub. "And this is brewer's yeast, which has a lot of vitamin B, and makes you look younger." In it went, along with malt – another well-being booster. I was at Chateau Spa Beerland, one of the grandest beer spas in the Czech Republic – the nation that gave birth to this idiosyncratic modern wellness trend in the 1980s. Located in an elegant, chandeliered national heritage building named U Zlaté Hrušky (At The Golden Pear) in Prague, this is where Tycho Brahe lived and worked beginning in 1599. Today, its beer spa rooms offer eye-catching decorative touches ranging from stained-glass windows to astronomical murals. Next to the tub was a giant bed of straw, which provides a traditional Czech complement to the hoppy hot tub experience. After bathing, the prickly bed aims to further stimulate the skin via the roughness of the straw – the same way Nordic sauna enthusiasts might hit their skin with twigs – and also, perhaps, provide a sense of getting closer to something natural. Skypalova rounded off the beer bath for me with several ladles of beer. Not just any old beer, mind you – this was unfiltered premium Czech beer which, because it still contains its full complement of key ingredients like yeast, is a more "alive" form, retaining qualities such as high vitamin levels. And the Czechs know their beer; this is a nation that consumes nearly twice as much per capita as the world's second-most beer-loving nation, Austria. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
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| Posted by: Super Hose 2026-03-08 16:01 |
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| Posted by: swksvolFF 2026-03-08 15:54 |
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| Posted by: Hupoluger Hupeth9674 2026-03-08 15:26 |
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| Posted by: Besoeker 2026-03-08 11:47 |
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| Posted by: chris 2026-03-08 10:43 |