Yeast of the Kingdom?

Cistercian monks in southern Poland hope to become the country's first distributors of an ale brewed from a 17th century recipe. "We can't divulge it, since our competitors on the brewery network never sleep," said Father Eugeniusz Wlodarczyk, abbot of the monastery at Szczyrzyc. "All I can say is that the secret lies in a certain very special kind of yeast." About 70 percent of Polish breweries are foreign-owned. The Cistercians also hope to obtain grants from the European Union to launch their own cheese and honey manufacturing operations. Church-run businesses are on the rise in Poland, 95 percent of whose 38 million inhabitants are Roman Catholic. Ventures run by parishes include transport and construction companies.