Just when you think you’ve heard every strange beer story imaginable, along comes one that tops them all: in 2021, news broke of a man whose body was literally brewing alcohol inside his stomach — leaving him drunk without ever taking a sip.

It sounds like an urban legend, but for Adam Stump, it was an unsettling medical reality. The Pennsylvania pastor discovered that his body was fermenting carbohydrates into alcohol — a rare condition that left him intoxicated much of the time, with no beer, wine, or whiskey involved.

Giving new meaning to the words “beer belly,” this amazing story was as unfortunate as it was true.

Adam Stump learned that he couldn’t eat bread, couldn’t have cake — in fact, he couldn’t consume any carbohydrates at all unless he wanted to get so intoxicated that he would eventually pass out.

Turns out, Stump suffered from Auto Brewery Syndrome, a very rare condition in which the body ferments carbohydrates and turns them into alcohol in the stomach. The more carbohydrates he consumed, the drunker he became.

Stump, a pastor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was at first bewildered by his circumstances. His drunken behavior led his wife, Jana, to worry that he was secretly struggling with alcoholism.

“It was terrible for her to think that I was living a double life. When I was diagnosed, she collapsed and said she couldn’t take any more stress,” Stump explained to LAD Bible. “At first, Jana didn’t believe I hadn’t been drinking. She thought I was sneaking it somewhere. I had to convince her that I hadn’t been drinking.”

“I would slur my speech, black out, and walk around talking but not remember any of it. I was quite belligerent and combative. I didn’t hurt anyone, but once I threw the dining room table and had to get a friend round to calm me down.

“There were a few times where my wife would be looking for me and I’d be in strange places like the garden or lying on the basement floor with no recollection of how I got there.”

After extensive testing, doctors discovered that the father of four was suffering from the rare condition in which carbohydrates ferment in the stomach. He has now given up carbs almost completely and lives on a high-protein diet consisting of meat, eggs, and cheese.

Auto-brewery syndrome (ABS), also known as gut fermentation syndrome, is caused by an overgrowth of yeast in the gut that turns excess carbohydrates from food into alcohol. The alcohol is then absorbed into the bloodstream, causing sufferers to become intoxicated.

According to Healthline, you can’t be born with ABS, but other genetic or underlying conditions — such as Crohn’s disease, which can generate excess yeast in the gut — may contribute to its development.

Unfortunately for Stump and others who suffer from Auto Brewery Syndrome, this condition is so unusual that there is no known cure.

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