Chang - Holy beer of the Himalayas

September 11, 8:48 AMBeer ExaminerCharlie Papazian

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Beer Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Matthieu-Aubry posts this photo on Flickr.  He says, "Made from fermented
millet and hot water. You put the hot water in the wooden pot, and you wait
so that the water mixes with the millet; it tastes like white wine or sake.

Both Chicha and Chang are revered in the respective mountains of the Andes and the Himalayas.  Many Nepalese, Tibetan, Chinese and other Asian cultures brew an indigenous beer from rice, millet, barley and corn (though corn was introduced to the world from the Americas). 

Fifteen years ago the American Homebrewers Association’s Spring 1994 issue of Zymurgy magazine featured a story called Adventures in Chicha and Chang: Indigenous Beers of the East and West.  This excellent article was thoroughly researched by  Washington, DC area homebrewers Wendy Aronson and Bill Ridgely who traveled to both Peru and Tibet and accessed historical research available in Washington DC to research their contemporary and historical findings.

Here are some excerpts about chang beer from their article.

• The key ingredient in chang is not the grain but the yeast cake knows variously as bakhar (India), marcha or murcha (Nepal), or phap (Tibet) which is an industry in and of itself.
• Yeast cakes contain yeast (hansenula and saccharomyces) and other fungii (aspergillus, mucor and rhizopus).  Bacteria and other spoilage microorganisms are unwanted and inhibited.
• Yeast cake base is a combination of rice or barley flour with crushed and dried ginger root and occasionally other herbs.  Fungi in ginger naturally ferment the mixture, then dried.
• Yeast cakes convert starches by way of enyzmes and yeast metabolism; the mashing (starch to sugar conversion) process and fermentation take place simultaneously
• All traditional chang brewing is done by women
• A few bits of burning charcoal is added in the mass to dispel evil spirits
• Young chang has the consistency of thick gruel with about 3% alcohol. 
• Water can be added and continued fermentation will increase alcohol percentage
• Tibetans rarely drink chang to excess, but on ceremonial occasions hosts will consider it a compliment if guest are unable to rise from a sitting position.

There is Chicha in the Andes.  There is Chang in the Himalayas.  These are beer styles indigenous and unique to cultures far remote from the typical beer roads most beer enthusiasts travel.  There value remains as a reminder of the local nature of the communities we all live in and the uniqueness of local beers made by local breweries.

East meets West.  North meets South.  The saga of beer summits is a centuries old tradition and did not begin on the Whitehouse lawn.