beer bathers

Bottoms up for beer bathers

Beer lovers are being given the chance to take the plunge in a health spa pool - filled with 42,000 pints of lager.

Spa bosses in Starkenberg, Austria, claim that beer can treat skin conditions, blood circulation and can even help cure wounds.

The spa - part of a local brewery - contains seven 13ft long pools filled with beer which you can even ask to be served chilled or heated.

Bathers can try drinking the bathwater but head barman Markus Amann, 23, said: "I'd rather swim than swallow, as we have enough cold beer on tap at the bars next to the pools.

"These pools really can help some health problems - but if they don't work for you, you'll probably have drunk enough not to care about it any more," he added.

Beer bath bosses at nearby Schrammel reckon warm beer is the best for health cures and bathers sit in cut down lager barrels.

Meanwhile, even monks are getting in on the craze for health on tap.

Brewers of the distinctive dark Klosterbrauerei in rural eastern Germany have produced a spa supplement for customers to put in the tub at home.

"It opens up the pores. The yeast penetrates the skin and after 15 minutes your skin feels softer everywhere," said spokesman Dirk Vock.