Is Bathing In Beer Really Good For You?
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4 months ago
The UK's first beer spa has opened in Norfolk
It’s not often that beer and wellness are used in the same sentence – yet beer bathing is the latest trend sweeping the spa world. Beer spas have popped up everywhere from Iceland to Spain recently, and now the UK has hopped aboard the trend, with a new experience launched at country hotel The Norfolk Mead. So does bathing in beer really offer wellness benefits?
What Are Beer Spas?
Bathing has long been used as a method of relaxation, but beer spas add a new element into the mix, infusing the water with beer. Although this might sound like a fad dreamed up by pub lovers, the bubbling brew is believed to offer a number of wellness benefits, including reducing muscular stress and boosting circulation.
Where Did The Beer Spa Trend Originate?
Many beer spas talk of the practice dating back thousands of years, citing King Wenceslas as one of the trend’s early adopters. As the story goes, the King had his servants prepare him cold brewery baths using wort (a sweet liquid fermented to make beer) from the nearby abbeys. However, some have questioned these stories.
‘This is certainly not true,’ Libor Zajic, a European brewing history expert at Masaryk University in Brno, told the BBC. ‘It’s a marketing trick of companies that operate beer spas – businesses that are a modern invention… Beer may have been added to baths in the Middle Ages, as many other substances were, but certainly not with any deeper intention.’
Nonetheless, the concept has been gaining traction across Europe over the past few years – particularly in beer hotspots like Bruges, Budapest and Strasbourg.
And now the UK has joined the party, with The Norfolk Mead Hotel launching its own boozy spa experience. Dubbed the UK’s first ever beer spa, The Norfolk Mead’s new offering allows guests to unwind in a wooden hot tub filled with malt and hops. Better still, the experience includes your very own personal beer tap, allowing you to enjoy a pint of Norfolk Woodforde’s Brewery beer – all in the name of wellness, of course.
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What Are The Benefits Of Beer Bathing?
Aside from the novelty factor, beer bathing is associated with a number of health perks. Beer is made using malted cereal grains, yeast and hops, all of which offer skin benefits. Malted grains and yeast are high in B vitamins, which help with hydration, while hops are rich in xanthohumul and humulone, two antioxidants associated with skin healing. Hops are also known for their anti-inflammatory properties – and there’s evidence to suggest they can help increase collagen production.
There may be mental health benefits too: researchers have found hop extracts may help decrease anxiety, mild depression and stress. The Norfolk Mead’s website reads: ‘These natural ingredients, known for their regenerative qualities, help remove toxins from the body whilst increasing blood circulation. Supportive benefits on the joints and muscles induce a stress reducing treatment that promotes overall wellbeing.’
You can book the spa experience at norfolkmead.co.uk
