Bathing in the equivalent of 300 pints of blonde. The love, no? This is also what we thought we were experiencing when we were offered to discover the spa with beer, a trend from Eastern Europe that has recently arrived in France, as in Paris, Strasbourg or Vertou near Nantes. The experience is worth living, even if the name is a little oversold: alone or in pairs in a large oak bathtub, you splash for an hour in 150 liters of water heated to 38 degrees where powders of malt, hops and brewer’s yeast.
A mixture without foam which, in addition to quenching our big thirsts as an aperitif, would offer many benefits. “Berler’s yeast is very good for the skin and the hair, the malt is relaxing just like the hops, which will also come to exfoliate the skin, assure Chrystelle and Olivier Rigaud, former insurance brokers who gave up everything for open O Divine spa in Vertou, after having lived the “delicious experience” in Belgium themselves. These are the ingredients of the beer but without the fermentation: it is therefore not intoxicating even if the objective is to take you somewhere else. It is a relaxation for body and mind. »
A (real) beer to totally relax
At first, the situation is confusing. Motionless in the middle of the cabin, we slide a little on the walls, press a button to activate the bubbles, then another to change the color of the ambient lights… in short, we wonder how we are going to occupy the 50 next few minutes. A bathrobe and black flip-flops are waiting for us if we want to join the straw bench right next to it, but the warmth of this cozy bath, a little greenish but not at all sticky, begins to please us, once the support head stalled. Very even too light, the floral smell of hops diffuses.
After about twenty minutes, a bell comes out of a sweet torpor. Our order placed via text, a local bottled white beer, is served right behind the door! Because if it is not really recommended to drink the cup, here is the other ingredient which will perhaps make us go up a notch on the scale of relaxation. It must be said that it’s not so easy to take it easy in the middle of a working day… The temptation to check our emails is great, but we have to resist.
The cool sips in this bath, which does not get cold, are pleasant. The minutes go by but now look like seconds and it’s when the end of the session arrives (35 euros per hour) that you no longer really want to leave this place. Too late: the second bell, fifteen minutes from the end, pushes us towards the shower. As soon as you rinse off, you come out with a slightly blissful smile and, it’s true, baby skin. In the evening, but it may be a coincidence, sleep came an hour earlier than usual.