Hops is most well-known for its use in making beer. This is true not only today, but was true in Hildegard’s time and for thousands of years earlier. With further research, we have found that hops has many health benefits outside of being used for making beer. For example, it is rich in B vitamins and aids in the digestive process. Many are drinking hops tea and non-alcoholic hops beverages today as part of a healthy life-style. However, Hildegard did not prescribe hops to be used in this way. In her work Physica, she wrote: “Hops is a hot and dry herb, with a bit of moisture. It is not much use for a human being, since it causes his melancholy to increase, gives him a sad mind, and makes his intestines heavy.”

Following the above quote in Physica, she added: “Nevertheless, its bitterness inhibits some spoilage in beverages to which it is added, making them last long.”

On his website, the Healthy Hildegard, founder Josh Cashman refers to Hildegard as the “Saint of Suds!” Hildegard includes beer in her remedies throughout Causes and Cures. This book is the second part of Physica. It is believed that Physica and Causes and Cures were at one time one larger work called, Book of Subtleties of Diverse Natural Creatures but that over time, they were split into two seperate books.

One example of how she prescribes beer for health can be found in Book Two of Causes and Cures where she prescribed drinking beer (not water) in the wintertime. She described the water in the winter as not being healthy due to the “humidity of the earth” which means it may have contained  harmful bacteria and beer, as we know, creates a natural preservative.  Even in the summertime, she recommended if a person was ill, it was better to drink beer (and wine) than pure water.

Hildegard has been quoted, including on several brewery websites, as having stated, “Cerevisiam Bibat!” (translated – drink beer for health!) While hops was only given a few lines in Physica (unlike some of the other herbs she used), it is referred to throughout Causes and Cures and is extremely important historically because of its use in making beer, which was for centuries, a healthier option than water.

Here at the Hildegard Haus, our social hall has what seems to be an endless supply of beer in our kitchen refrigerator. We also have a cabinet of beer steins to hold this ancient Hildegard approved beverage. Our monthly church potlucks are flavored with the charism of a German beer hall. “Cerevisiam Bibat!”