The Washington Post, July 2025
Hot beer is not usually a selling point. Americans are conditioned from birth by the sounds of Coors commercials to expect our beer as cold as the Rockies. This preference may explain the horrified reactions I got when I told friends and family that I would be soaking in a bathtub of beer. Or maybe it just sounds gross.
But beer spas are thriving, and not just across Eastern Europe. About 20 miles west of Baltimore, the spa at Bierbath in Sykesville, Maryland, claims to have revived the “ancient tradition” of soaking in beer for better health, vitality and rejuvenation. Oakwell Beer Spa in Denver was inspired by the owners’ experience with a similar concept in Zakopane, Poland; it has been so popular that they’re building a second location. There’s also Piva Beer Spa in Chicago, which offers beer soaks and beer masks, plus a sauna, salt room therapy and 4D massage chairs.
In each place, visitors treat themselves to the alleged wellness benefits of soaking in brewing inputs. That does not mean dunking in a tub full of Budweiser. Spas combine brewer’s yeast, hops, barley malt, hot water — and sometimes a little beer — to promote relaxation and healthier skin. Proponents of beer soaks say this mixture is great for your skin, improving damage and elasticity, exfoliating, hydrating and softening, and clearing acne. Allegedly the hops, barley and brewer’s yeast have antioxidant properties.
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