On Cheers and Choice...

...A warning though from history of the necessity of exercising due caution in the matter of monastic tippling.

It was my pleasure - as well as rare privilege - to be in conversation with a Carthusian monk some years ago. Those of you who know this strictest of all Orders will appreciate how infrequent it is for such coves to be found chatting to outsiders, it hardly being their habit to speak to each other from one year's end to another.

This fellow, finding as one does the whole experience rather testing, had been allowed out for a sabbatical to recover his wind and his nerve. A sensible and a humane approach of course. He talked of many aspects of his rigourous life, but one in particular struck me with regard to the subject of a monk and his drink.

The very first day he was in his hermitage, shortly before luncheon the shutter of his cell flew open to reveal the stark eyes of his lay brother helper who asked in simple and direct terms "Beer or cider?" Assuming, correctly, that this was his being offered a choice of beverage to take with his potage, it being an unusually hot day our Carthusian novice opted not for his customary preference of beer but ordered cider instead.

When, later, the meal was thrust through said shutter by said stark-eyed lay brother there duly was a large pitcher of cooling cider. The next day though, it turning chilly, our intrepid seeker of salvation mused that this time he would be returning to ale and awaited the arrival of Ol' Stark Eyes to take his order for the day.

This same pre-prandial exchange though did not occur and luncheon arrived - more or less the same dish of potage - with more cider. The next day the same and for the following days, until it dawned on our not dull friend that day one had been his one and his only opportunity to make a choice for life, and that from here on in cider was to be his drink, will he or nil he, until the end of time!

For nigh on thirty years Brother X has been quaffing cider to his eternal dismay. Poor man, it felt only right whilst under my hospitality to offer him a trip to the Dragon Inn for some alternative refreshment. Never have I seen a man so tearfully happy as this fellow when taking his first sip of Firebreath Ale!