{{short description|Beer style made from corn}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}} {{Infobox drink | name = Corn beer | image = Clarito en poto.JPG | image_alt = Jug of drink | caption = Chicha served in a vessel known as a ''poto'' | type = | abv = | proof = | manufacturer = | distributor = | origin = | introduced = | discontinued = | colour = | flavour = | ingredients = corn | variants = | related = | website = | region = Catacaos, Peru }} <!--[[File:Clarito en poto.JPG|thumb|Chicha served in a vessel known as a ''poto'', Catacaos, Peru.]]--> [[File:Chimú - Beaker - Walters 572307.jpg|thumb|A repoussé 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).<ref>{{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 }}</ref>
In 1796, John Boston created a corn beer, the first fermented alcohol beverage commercially produced in Sydney, Australia.<ref>{{Citation|last=Iltis|first=Judith|title=Boston, John (?–1804)|url=https://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}}</ref>
A recipe for corn beer appears in ''Resources of the Southern Fields and Forests, Medical, Economical, and Agricultural'' (1863) by Francis Peyre Porcher.<ref>{{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}}</ref>
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.<ref>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)</ref>
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.<ref name="NPR">{{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}}</ref> For the Tarahumara, the beer is an elixir for healing and a barter item and is considered a sacred beverage.<ref name="NPR" />
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}} * Corn whiskey * Tiswin * Pozol * Pox * List of maize dishes
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Beer Styles}} {{Corn}}
Category:Types of beer Category:Maize-based drinks Category:Australian inventions Category:Australian alcoholic beverages