Swipe Bath Anyone?

I can't help it if Cleopatra lived before bubble bath was invented. They probably didn't have running water in that day and age either. Even so, if Cleo needed a bath she could have taken one in the river. After all, the Nile was practically in her back yard. But no. Cleopatra had to go and start a new fad. Beer bathes.

Taking a bath in beer is . . . well, it is . . . ah . . . so yeasty. Think about it. Why, you'd get out of your bath smelling worse than you did when you got in and by the time you rinsed the sticky green hops flakes off your bod, you'd need another bath!

So can you imagine people paying a hefty sum to submerge themselves in this sticky brown lager full of fermented malt, sugar, yeast and hops?

The Chodovar brewery in the Czech Republic could imagine folks doing just that. And the Kummeroer Hof in Germany, the Starkenberg brewery in Tarrenz and the Moorhof in Franking, Austria, not only could imagine doing it but are making the tidy profit of $52.40 for half-hour beer bathes.

They call them beer spas and promote them by promising health, wellness . . . and ah . . . the chance to have your favorite brew caress your skin.

If beer-soaking in wooden tubs where bubbles rise from the bottom, all yeasty and warm, to form a head which tickles the armpits doesn't appeal to you, then you might want to try swimming in the Starkenberg's pool which has been filled with countless barrels of the brewery's own Pilser.

But be forewarned. The treatment is mildly intoxicating.

And if, after your bath, you stay to enjoy the four-course supper at their restaurant which features beer soup, beer-battered broccoli, chicken schnitzel with sour beer gravy and for dessert, some beer crepes, perhaps you should arrange for a designated driver.

For myself, bubble bath and a nice Chardonnay will do just fine.
Swipe Bath Anyone? © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan