[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1hrdHtQHOg?rel=0]

Now, this is great news showing up in my in-box: the Monks at St. Benedict’s Monastery in Norcia are now able to sell the beer they brew in their monastery here in the US! “Birra Nursia,” as it’s called, using the old Roman name for the mountain village, can be ordered in limited quantities by going here. Every penny made from the sale of the beer goes for the upkeep of the monastery. Or, as I like to think of it, every sip of Birra Nursia contributes to the persistence of Latin chant in St. Benedict’s hometown.

I’ve been into the brewery, which amounts to a couple of rooms in the monastery, and it’s a very small operation. The monks do all of it themselves — and the beer is quite tasty. Ideally you should make a pilgrimage to Norcia (Nursia) and taste it yourself, but the next best thing is to have it delivered to your door. This is a Benedict Option I think we can all agree is worth taking.

Here’s a link to the monks’ beer blog. They still have their priorities straight:

“If the prayer doesn’t come first, the beer is going to suffer,” said Father Benedict Nivakoff, director of the Birra Nursia brewery and subprior of the monastery.