Corn beer is a

beer style Beer styles differentiate and categorise beers by colour, flavour, strength, ingredients, production method, recipe, history, or origin. The modern concept of beer styles is largely based on the work of writer Michael Jackson in his 1977 book ...

made from corn (maize). The drink is a traditional beverage in various cuisines. Chicha, the best-known corn beer, is widespread in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

and local varieties of corn beer exist elsewhere.

History

Corn beer in the Andes has

pre-Incan This is a chart of cultural periods of Peru and the Andean Region developed by John Rowe and Edward Lanning and used by some archaeologists studying the area. An alternative dating system was developed by Luis Lumbreras and provides different dat ...

origins. There is archaeological evidence that elite women were responsible for brewing in the

Wari culture The Wari ( es, Huari) were a Middle Horizon civilization that flourished in the south-central Andes and coastal area of modern-day Peru, from about 500 to 1000 AD. Wari, as the former capital city was called, is located north-east of the mo ...

(600 to 1000 AD). In 1796,

John Boston John Boston was an early Australian migrant who was known for plying his hand at a number of different trades including salt farming and brewing. Boston opened a brewery in 1796 making a form of corn beer. Early life Australia bound As a you ...

created a corn beer, the first fermented alcohol beverage commercially produced in Sydney, Australia. A recipe for corn beer appears in ''Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economical, and Agricultural'' (1863) by Francis Peyre Porcher. Italian beers Peroni and Nastro Azzuro are made from maize and barley malt.

KEO beer KEO is a Cyprus, Cypriot beer. It is a light straw-colored lager with a thick head, and is sometimes compared to a pilsner in taste. The beer is brewed in Limassol, in Cyprus. The beer won the 1987 brewing industry world bottled lager competition ...

from Cyprus is also made with maize, giving a characteristically bitter taste.

Varieties

Chicha is popular in Peru and is served in Arequipa's picanterías.León, Rafo and Billy Hare
Chicha peruana: una bebida, una cultura.
Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Fondo Editorial, 2008: 49-74. (retrieved through Google Books, 28 July 2015) Tesguino is a corn beer made by the Tarahumara people of the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. It is brewed for local celebrations related to

Holy Week Holy Week ( la, Hebdomada Sancta or , ; grc, Ἁγία καὶ Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, translit=Hagia kai Megale Hebdomas, lit=Holy and Great Week) is the most sacred week in the liturgical year in Christianity. In Eastern Churches, w ...

. For the Tarahumara, the beer is an elixir for healing and a barter item and is considered a sacred beverage.

Umqombothi Umqombothi (), is a Xhosa traditional beer made from maize (corn), maize malt, sorghum malt, yeast and water. It is very rich in vitamin B. The beer has a rather low alcohol content (usually less than 3%) and is known to have a heavy and dist ...

is the

Xhosa language Xhosa (, ) also isiXhosa as an endonym, is a Nguni language and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe. Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8.2 million people and by another 11 million as a secon ...

word for a corn beer made in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

from

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

(corn), maize malt, sorghum malt, yeast and water.

References

{{Beer Styles Types of beer Maize-based drinks Australian inventions Australian alcoholic drinks Beer in Australia Beer in Peru

History

Varieties

See also

References