An excellent post on Field to Feast, a blog of “Africa-inspired writing, cooking and eating”, describes the process of making (and drinking) some of the local brews of Zimbabwe. “I don’t think I’ve heard of a grain or fruit that isn’t made into some sort of beer or liquor,” Carolyn, the author, writes. She goes on to describe brewing a batch of chikokiyana, a quick-fire beer made from maize. It does point up the human propensity to turn anything fermentable into an alcoholic beverage, even if it is something of an acquired taste. But it isn’t just home brewers who use a diversity of raw materials. Some big brewers have adopted a similar strategy.
Of late, my own web searches for articles about sorghum have been overwhelmed by news about a sorgum-based beer from brewing giant Anheuser-Busch. The beer, called Redbridge, is being touted as good for drinkers who are allergic to gluten. It also represents a deliberate attempt by the brewer to develop new niches for different drinkers, based on a diversity of raw materials, to boost sales and prevent swings in revenue. Sounds an awful lot like using several species and varieties in a farming system to increase production and stabilize yields.