This is one of those rare years when the major Judeo-Christian holidays align, with Lent leading into Passover, and both Orthodox and traditional Easter on April 20th. Publican Jimmy Carbone—owner of Jimmy's No. 43 and host of Beer Sessions Radio on Heritage Radio Network—considers this time of year a “beautiful season of beer.” Inspired by a blogger who decided to live on beer for Lent, Jimmy teamed up with six East Village beer purveyors (ABC Beer Co., Burp Castle, d.b.a., Eastwood, Malt & Mold, and Top Hops) to celebrate “Liquid Lent.”
Some of the world’s greatest beers are created for Lent, and the nutritional profile of late winter/early spring beers highlight malt. Traditionally, Monks would eat only one simple meal per day from September through Easter, so “Monk’s Beer” became a staple of their diet. Typically, these were high-malt, low-ABV beers, but today’s Trappist and Belgian-style ales come in all flavors and alcohol levels. We wondered what would happen if the apostles came to town in need of a drink and a Lenten meal. So, with apologies to the truly faithful, WWJD—What Would Jesus Drink? And what foods would he pair with his brew?
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