Sister Doris – brewer

Sister Doris Engelhard is the last sister in Europe still brewing beer in her Abbacy of Mallersdorf in Bavaria, Germany. She is now 77 and has been working in the monastic brewery for 51 years, with a certificate as ‘Master Brewer.’ She claims that the smaller the brewery the better the beer will be. Her abbacy is a magnet for people to come and admire the many relics housed inside, but also to taste the good quality of beer produced by Sister Doris and her co-workers. Many other Abbeys and Monasteries produce beer, including Spencer Abbey in Massachusetts, where I did my sabbatical in 2002. It is said that in the Middle Ages, it was very common that women helped in producing beer. Cheers !