You know those documentaries about tribes in South America that make alcoholic beverages by chewing up corn and spitting it into a container?  Well, that's basically what chicha is and Dogfish Head has attempted to create some of this.  Known for their extreme approach to beer, Dogfish Head has created some historically-relevant brews already.  Midas Touch was created with some of the residue from beer pots found in King Midas' tomb (and is quite delicious). Chateau Jiahu was made with residue from a 9,000 year old dig in China (and I'm still trying to find some of this).  So, with this pedigree under Sam Calagione's belt, he decided it was time to take on chicha.

A more apt description of chicha is a Latin-American corn beer that is traditionally mixed with saliva to turn the starches in the corn into sugar, which can then be fermented.  What's the easiest way to mix corn with saliva?  Chew it, of course!  So, with corn in hand and a couple interested parties, Dr. Patrick E. McGovern, the scientific director of the Biomolecular Archaeology Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Clark Erickson, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Pennsylvania, they went to work chewing the blue corn into small patties.  They soon realized that this was going to be a very difficult task as their mouths went completely dry as the corn absorbed all the saliva they could produce.  “It’s dismal, I’m not going to lie to you,” Mr. Calagione said. “I’d say everybody is deeply, unpleasantly surprised at how labor intensive and palate fatiguing this stuff has turned out to be.”

Reviews from some Peruvian tasters were not the greatest reviews to get, but I'm sure Sam Calagione won't take it too personally.  They said it tasted like beer and that chicha is sweeter.  I'm sure Dogfish Head won't give up so easily on chicha, back to the drawing board on that one, eh, Sam?

Read the NYTimes Article for a much more in-depth look at what happened with a quite humorous transcript of Mr. Calagione speaking with the corn in his mouth.

New Belgium Brewing Co, makers of Fat Tire, 1554, Mothership Wit, etc., is well known by this time as being proactively environmental.  They already use methane from their water treatment plant along with some other very nifty stuff to reduce their strain on the power grid, but now they're going solar.  The brewery is about to begin installation of what will be Colorado's largest privately owned solar array!  The array will produce 16 percent of peak electrical load and 3 percent of the brewery's total electrical load.

Jennifer Orgolini, New Belgium's sustainability Director,had the following to say: "We’re excited to include a fairly large solar PV installation as part of our total load reduction project portfolio.  It nicely compliments our current on-site generation which uses methane from our process water treatment plant, and the new generation capacity, thermal storage and demand response technologies we’ll also be adding for peak reduction. The five projects we’re doing to reduce peak will cost over $3 million, but the DOE grant and partner contributions allow us to help further research required to make distributed generation and smart grids a reality for the whole country."

New Belgium should be applauded for their efforts in finding more efficient ways of making use of that they produce.  Now, I'm not saying that New Belgium is the only brewery doing good things for the environment.  Many breweries are disposing of their grains by giving them to farmers to use in compost and some are even using them as fuel for power production.  The craft brewers in America are really doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint and make the world a better place.

Enjoying beer is a passion of many people, it is the reason The Good Drink exists.  Many people enjoy beer in many different ways.  From mixing beers (Black and Tan, Snakebite) to cooking with beer to mixing different ingredients with beer to my personal favorite, the beer float, there are many different ways to enjoy a brew than just cracking one open and quaffing it, though I don't think anyone would disagree with that particular choice. In fact, Smoked Porter is known as a great beer with which to make a float using vanilla bean ice cream.  That's where Stone Brewer Laura Ulrich got the idea to just go all out and infuse the beer with vanilla beans.

Laura got the idea from liking a float made with Smoked Porter, even though she doesn't like ice cream (blasphemy!), but I won't judge.  She decided to prepare some vanilla beans and add them to her glass and it turned out to be delicious.  I can vouch that real vanilla beans infused into a beverage makes it far richer than if you made a float with ice cream, so I think her heart was in the right place.  She has given instructions on how to prepare the beans over on The Stone Blog and I can't wait to try it.

"Thinking of adding vanilla beans to your homebrew? It’s super easy. Think of it like brewing a tea with vanilla beans and tossing it in your brew. Here’s how we do it:

-    Slice the beans down the side w/out slicing the whole bean in half
-    Open the beans and scrape out the goo
-    Cut up the leftover bean shells
-    Boil the goo and diced shells in water
-    Let it cool to the proper temperature and add it to your brew!"

 Yeah, sure, there's some labor involved, but it's surely a labor of love.  I'll have to give it to the lovely Ms. Ulrich for trying this bold combination and I encourage people to experiment with their beer just like she has!  Now, your snobs will tell you that you MUST NOT under ANY circumstances add any additional ingredients to your beverage, lest you corrupt it purity but come on, now, beer is about having fun!  Laura has definitely shown that she knows how to have fun with her beer and bring some new flavors and experiences to the table.  Go check out the article and maybe you'll be just as impressed as I am and try it in the near future.  I can think of several brews this little technique might be fun with... Young's Double Chocolate Stout, Fort Collins Double Chocolate Stout, Guiness Extra Stout, hell, this would be fun to try with any stout or porter available!  I'll be trying this soon and I will be sure to report on its deliciousness!