corn beer
{{short description|Beer style made from corn}}
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| name = Corn beer
| image = Clarito en poto.JPG
| image_alt = Jug of drink
| caption = Chicha served in a vessel known as a poto
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| ingredients = corn
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File:Chimú - Beaker - Walters 572307.jpg silver Chimú kero beaker from Peru that may have been used in drinking rituals with corn beer]]
Corn beer is a beer style made from corn (maize). The drink is a traditional beverage in various cuisines. Chicha, the best-known corn beer, is widespread in the Andes and local varieties of corn beer exist elsewhere.
History
Corn beer in the Andes has pre-Incan origins. There is archaeological evidence that elite women were responsible for brewing in the Wari culture (600 to 1000 AD).{{cite news|title=The ancient empire that beer built|url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/technology/science/the-ancient-empire-that-beer-built/article18253135/|website=The Globe and Mail|date=November 15, 2005 |language=en-ca|last1=McIlroy |first1=Anne }}
In 1796, John Boston created a corn beer, the first fermented alcohol beverage commercially produced in Sydney, Australia.{{Citation|last=Iltis|first=Judith|title=Boston, John (?–1804)|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boston-john-1804|work=Australian Dictionary of Biography|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=April 24, 2019}}
A recipe for corn beer appears in Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economical, and Agricultural (1863) by Francis Peyre Porcher.{{cite web|title=Early American Beer {{!}} Inside Adams: Science, Technology & Business|url=https://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2014/09/early-american-beer/|website=blogs.loc.gov|date=September 29, 2014}}
Italian beers Peroni and Nastro Azzuro are made from maize and barley malt.{{Citation needed|date=April 2019}} KEO beer 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. [https://books.google.com/books?id=4moNAQAAMAAJ&q Chicha peruana: una bebida, una cultura.] Universidad de San Martín de Porres, Fondo Editorial, 2008: 49-74. (retrieved through Google Books, July 28, 2015)
Tesguino is a corn beer made by the Tarahumara people of the Sierra Madre Occidental in Mexico. It is brewed for local celebrations related to Holy Week.{{cite web|title=The Sacred Corn Beer of the Tarahumara|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4532569|website=NPR.org|language=en}} For the Tarahumara, the beer is an elixir for healing and a barter item and is considered a sacred beverage.
Umqombothi is the Xhosa language word for a corn beer made in South Africa from maize (corn), maize malt, sorghum malt, yeast and water.
See also
{{Portal|Drink}}