BrewingTechniques
Brewing In Styles
Chapter 40: The Proper Amount of Drink

Everyone has his own gift from God, one this and another that (1 Cor. 7:7).
It is, therefore, with some uneasiness that we specify the amount of food and drink for others.

However, with due regard for the infirmities of the sick, we believe that a half bottle of wine a day is sufficient for each.
But those to whom God gives the strength to abstain must know that they will earn their own reward.The superior will determine when local conditions, work or the summer heat indicates the need for a greater amount.

He must, in any ease, take great care lest excess or drunkenness creep in.

We read that monks should not drink wine at all, but, since the monks of our day cannot be convinced of this, let us at least agree to drink moderately, and not to the point of excess, for wine makes even wise men go astray.

However, where local circumstances dictate an amount much less than what is stipulated above, or even none at all, those who live there should bless God and not grumble. Above all else we admonish them to refrain from grumbling.--

From The Rule of St. Benedict, Timothy Fry, Ed.(The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, Maryland, 1981).

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