Chicha and other traditional corn beers
Maize has been brewed into beer in the Americas for a very long time. Chicha in the Andes and tesgüino in northern Mexico are the best known. Here is how these traditional corn beers are made and what they teach brewers today.
Corn beer in the Americas
Maize was domesticated in what is now Mexico thousands of years ago and spread across the Americas. Wherever it went, people found ways to ferment it. The word chicha covers a broad family of fermented drinks across South and Central America, most of them made from maize, though some use cassava, quinoa or fruit.
In the Andes, chicha had deep social and ceremonial importance. The Inca state brewed it in large quantities for festivals and communal work. Today it remains part of everyday life in parts of Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador, sold from homes and small shops.
Chicha de jora: malting maize
The most common style in the Andes is chicha de jora. Jora is maize that has been soaked, allowed to sprout and then dried, much like barley is malted. Sprouting develops enzymes that can turn the grain's starch into sugar.
The brewer grinds the jora, boils it in water for a long time, then lets the mash settle and strains off the liquid. It ferments in large clay pots with wild or carried-over yeast for a few days. The result is cloudy, pale yellow to light amber, slightly sour and usually low in alcohol, often just a few percent. It is drunk young and fresh.
Why some chicha was chewed
An older method skips sprouting. Brewers chew maize flour or kernels and spit them into a pot. Human saliva contains amylase, an enzyme that breaks starch into sugar. The chewed mass is then mixed with water, heated and fermented. This style, sometimes called chicha de muko, is rarer now but still made in some communities.
It sounds strange, but the chemistry is sound. It is the same job malting does for barley: producing enzymes to convert starch. Saliva simply delivers the enzymes directly. Many traditional brewing cultures discovered one route or the other.
Tesgüino and other corn beers
In northern Mexico, the Rarámuri people brew tesgüino from sprouted maize. Like chicha de jora, it is made from germinated corn, boiled, cooled and fermented for a short time. It plays a central part in communal work and celebration.
Across the Americas, corn beers share a pattern: sprouted or chewed grain, a long cook, a short wild fermentation and a drink consumed within days. That pattern is a world away from industrial brewing, yet it rests on the same biology of enzymes, starch and yeast.
Not every chicha is alcoholic. Chicha morada, made from purple maize with fruit and spices, is a popular non-alcoholic drink in Peru. If you see the word on a menu, ask before assuming it is beer.
What corn beer tastes like
Traditional chicha is nothing like a lager. Expect a cloudy, often thin drink with a sweet corn and bread aroma, a sour edge from lactic bacteria and a light fizz from ongoing fermentation. Some versions taste like a tart, grainy cider. Flavour changes daily as fermentation continues, so the same pot tastes different on Monday and Thursday.
Modern craft brewers sometimes make chicha-inspired beers using malted barley with a large share of maize, purple corn or even jora. These are cleaner, more carbonated and more stable than the traditional drink.
Purple corn deserves a special mention. Its deep anthocyanin pigments can turn a pale beer pink to violet. The colour also shifts with acidity. Brewers who add it to a light, slightly tart base end up with a beer that looks striking and still tastes of grain rather than fruit.
The same grain in your Indian lager
Maize is a familiar adjunct in Indian commercial brewing, alongside rice. Our guide to rice and maize adjuncts in India explains why. The brewhouse detail that links chicha to an Indian brewery is gelatinisation. Maize starch needs higher temperatures to soften than barley starch, roughly 62 to 74 °C, which is why both the chicha brewer and the lager brewer boil their corn before the enzymes can do their work.
India also has its own traditional grain beers, from rice beers in the North East to sorghum and millet brews. Our guides to traditional Indian rice beers and traditional sorghum beers of Africa continue the story.
Tasting outside the barley box
Traditional beers challenge everything a lager drinker expects about clarity, carbonation and stability. Tasting them well means setting aside the modern checklist and asking different questions: is the sourness clean, is the grain fresh, does it taste alive? That flexibility is something structured sensory training builds over time.
For a first step, taste a corn-forward lager next to an all-malt pilsner and note how the maize changes sweetness and body. If you ever get the chance to try a fresh chicha de jora, take notes on day one and again a few days later.
Common questions
What is chicha made from?
Most chicha is made from maize, either sprouted and dried (jora) or chewed so saliva enzymes convert the starch. Some versions use cassava, quinoa or fruit.
Is chicha alcoholic?
Chicha de jora is usually mildly alcoholic, often a few percent. Chicha morada, made from purple maize, is non-alcoholic.
Why was chicha chewed?
Saliva contains amylase, an enzyme that turns starch into sugar, doing the job that malting does for barley.
What is tesgüino?
Tesgüino is a traditional corn beer brewed by the Rarámuri people of northern Mexico from sprouted maize.
