Dogfish Head – Chicha Beer Returns 8/15

he 2014 Brewpub Exclusive version of our Chicha will go on tap Friday, 8/15/14 at the Rehoboth Beach brewpub and will be available until it is gone!

Throughout the last 19 years we’ve brewed hundreds of different off-centered ales here at Dogfish Head. A number of our beers have been based on archeological evidence or researching ancient brewing traditions. One our most exotic and unique beers is Chicha. Chicha is the quintessential native corn beer throughout Central and South American. Indigenous versions with local variations exist in Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and many other countries.

Dogfish Head Chicha 2014 is most closely based upon Peruvian brewing traditions. We’ve sourced indigenous ingredients to make the most authentic interpretation possible: organic pink Peruvian pepper corns, yellow maize and organic Peruvian purple maize.  This year we also added Soursop Fruit, a native fruit to Central and South America (in our past batches of Chicha, we brewed with strawberries).  Soursop adds a unique Mango –like tropical fruit character to this brew.  As per tradition, instead of germinating all of the grain to release the starches, the purple maize is milled, moistened in the chicha-makers mouths (which we did right here three weeks ago in our Rehoboth brewery).  The natural ptyalin enzymes in the saliva act as a catalyst and break the starches into more accessible fermentable sugars. On brewday the broken down (converted) Peruvian Corn was added to the mash tun pre-boil along with the other grains. This method might sound strange but it is still used regularly today throughout villages in South and Central America. It is actually quite effective and totally sanitary. Since the grain-chewing (known as salivation) happens before the beer is boiled the beer is sterile and free of the wild yeast and bacteria you would find in modern Belgian Lambics.  Dogfish Head Chicha is 5.7% ABV, cloudy and unfiltered. It has a beautiful-purple-pink hue from the Peruvian corn, strawberries, and tree seeds – it’s dry, fruity, complex, and refreshing. We hope you enjoy drinking this beer as much as we enjoyed making it!

The NY Times profiled our 2009 Chicha brew – read all about it.

Every Beer Has A Story: here is our Chicha story:

This beer is a Brewpub Exclusive beer that was first released in September 2009. We brewed it again in 2010. The 2014 batch will be tapped on Friday, 9/15/14.

Due to its limited availability, Chicha is not available in growlers.

– See more at: http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/brewpub-exclusives/chicha.htm#sthash.2rlpqxNt.dpuf