Malt & Grain

What goes into Umqombothi? This traditional beer of the Xhosa and Zulu consists of maize meal, malted maize, malted sorghum, yeast, and water. Sorghum is a type of millet that tolerates heat and drought well and has been cultivated in southern Africa for a long time. During malting, the grain is allowed to germinate. This produces enzymes that later convert starch into fermentable sugar.

The ratio of ingredients determines the character. With more maize malt, the beer turns lighter and milder. With more sorghum malt, it becomes darker and stronger, and is considered rich in B vitamins. The Slow Food Foundation has added Umqombothi to its Ark of Taste, the catalog of foods at risk of disappearing.

Maize gives the beer its thick, slightly grainy texture. Because the drink is neither filtered nor clarified, you drink the grain residue along with it. It's therefore more of a liquid meal with alcohol than a clear beer in the European sense.

Alongside it exists an industrial counterpart. Chibuku, a sorghum beer sold in cartons, follows the model of home-brewed beer and likewise consists mainly of malted sorghum and maize. The brand originated in the 1950s in Northern Rhodesia, present-day Zambia, where Max Heinrich documented and marketed a local brewing method.

The lagers from the big breweries, by contrast, use barley malt. In Alrode, SAB also operates its own malting facility. Dark, slightly roasty beers like the Orlando Stout from the Soweto Brewing Company get their color from more heavily kilned malt.