I'd recently read Joh Araki's manga Bartender, and every chapter always goes into detail about the origins and uses of various liquors. One variety that often pops up are alcohol traditionally made in monasteries. This struck me as a little odd - I'm not a religious person and I know little about Christianity, but I was always under the impression that drunkenness had always been considered sinful, or at least frowned upon. So why did brewing and vinification become something that monasteries did? A way of making money to fund the monastery?
I tried to find some resources on Wikipedia and through the search function here, but I have been largely unsuccessful. If this has been previously answered in detail, please direct me to where. Thank you in advance.
A caveat before I answer this: I didn't get much sleep last night and don't feel very coherent today so I apologize in advance if this is poorly written.
I was always under the impression that drunkenness had always been considered sinful, or at least frowned upon
Various mostly rural American protestant Christian groups campaigned heavily against alcohol (especially in the 19th and early 20th centuries) but that was not a dynamic as much in Europe during the middle ages when the monastic traditions were developed.
As to why Monasteries produced alcohol there are a couple ways to approach the question. Perhaps at the most basic level it should be acknowledged that monks were people and people like to drink alcohol fairly ubiquitously. It should be no surprise that they would produce something that was fairly fundamental in most people's lives.
Another important point is that the Eucharist requires wine so monasteries would both be empowered and in some cases obligated to produce wine so that they could have a steady supply for the ritual.
Another aspect is that bishops, cardinals and monastic abbots were part of the social elite of their era and the aristocracy had a social obligation to act as hosts and provide wine for other aristocratic visitors. This alone necessitated access to significant stores of wine. Wine was also a currency used by religious elites in diplomatic contexts. Sending barrels of fantastic wine to each other, secular leaders or even the pope was a powerful diplomatic tool.
Also its important to realize that the church was a significant landowner during the middle ages and much of valuable land was covered in vineyards. Monastic institutions such the Cistercians produced significant wealth via the vineyards and the wine they produced.
As for beer you don't have the motivation of the Eucharist but in areas where wine was harder to grow it was a source alcohol for the brother monks and was also a valuable commodity to sell to help keep the financial engine of the monastery running.