Historical Beer – Chicha

-Category - Historical Beer

-Beers in this category include established historical beers and/or brewing traditions
from any era or part of the world that don’t fit within another beer style defined within these guidelines.

-This category pays tribute to beers that incorporate unique brewing ingredients and/or techniques that were used in the past. Within the framework of these guidelines, examples of Historical Beers include South American Chicha, Nepalese Chong/Chang, African sorghumbased beers and others.

-Focus on Chicha since so interesting

-The drink’s history dates back to around 5000 B.C. where there’s evidence of early pottery in the Andean region used as vessels to carry and store chicha. The drink soon played a crucial role in history and civilization. It became a cultural signifier for many Andean groups (i.e. Incas and Aztecs) and was not only central to many economies as a means of payment, but also became important for its intoxicating effects.

-For many of the Andean groups, drunkenness was a way to spiritually communicate as well as develop a sense of community and togetherness. Sharing a drink with another person was seen as an act of friendship and understanding. Sound familiar? Today, chicha is still an important drink for many in Central and South America.

-Normal process for making beer- Usually grind up barley to release starch and soak in hot water to convert starch to sugars – boil/cool down and yeast would ferment / interact with sugar and create alcohol

-Chicha is an ancient beer indigenous to many cultures ranging from the Andes up to what is now the southwestern United States. Somewhere along history, someone decided it’d be a good idea to chew up corn, spit it out, boil it and then ferment it in a clay pot for a few days until it was ready to drink

-DogfishHead Brewery makes a Chicha and describes the process:

-So what exactly is Chicha? In Peru, small communities produce it from masticated maize (corn is a grain), naturally fermented in large clay pots and often flavored with indigenous fruit and spices.

-DFH first made the Chicha beer in 2009

-The purple maize was milled, moistened in DogfishHead workers mouths and spit out and mixed with malted Barley (standard grain used in beer) before boiled. The natural ptyalin enzymes in the saliva act as a catalyst and break the starches into more accessible fermentable sugars. Yeast converts these sugars into alcohol.

-Since the grain-chewing (known as salivation) happens before the beer is boiled the beer is sterile

-Added Soursop Fruit and strawberries to the beer

-In 2018, they enlisted the help of 100+ co-workers to prepare the beer's main ingredient - masticated purple maize ... and for the first time, they released 200 (750ml) bottles of this one-of-a-kind brew exclusively at their Milton Delaware Tasting Room & Kitchen in March

-ABV on DogfishHead Chicha – 3.1%

-IBU – 4

-https://www.dogfish.com/brewery/beer/chicha

-https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/how-to-brew/chew-spit-brew-how-to-make-chicha-beer/

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Michael Potorti is the Host of Craft Beer Storm and Founder/Brewer at Beara Brewing Co. in Portsmouth, NH

Michael Potorti
Founder/Brewer
Host of "Craft Beer Storm" Podcast
michael@craftbeerstorm.com
michael@bearairishbrew.com

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