A Reason To Drink

I seem to do a pretty good job of finding reasons to drink. It was a long/tough/great day at work. It's a holiday/weekend/day off. It's my birthday/your birthday/some guy's birthday. It's Tuesday/5 o'clock/noon/not just for breakfast anymore. I just bought some/have some/you have some. It's fresh/getting old/right here in the fridge. It goes great with pizza/burgers/any food/who needs food? Or, perhaps, they're working on your house and donig a really bad frustrating job.

Now I may have another one: it can help us to energy independence. A report on ABC News tells that sorghum makes for a better crop than corn if your goal is raw material for biofuel production (sorghum is multiples energy- positive, corn slightly energy-negative). It grows in sketchier terrain, and the extraction of the raw material requires less energy, and the stalks are the source of the squeezings to be refined, leaving the grain available for food - and brewing.

It seems that sorghum beer has been common in Africa for centuries, although the product has been, even in modern times, cloudy and inconsistent. The general term has been "chibuku." Sounds like Chewbacca, and if you drank some, you might make sounds like Chewie's bleating barks. In fact, it's known as "opaque" beer as opposed to clear German-style and American lagers. SAB Miller has recently introduced a sorghum-based beer called "Eagle" for African markets, brewed to be clear and lighter, perhaps intended to be a "bridge" beer to clear barley-based lagers. Sorghum is a grain grown widely in Africa, and elsewhere through the Middle East and in warm climates.

Sorghum beer began showing up on shelves around here a few years ago. Lakefront Brewery, from Milwaukee, brews something called "New Grist." Anheuser-Busch brought out "Redbridge," and there's one called "Dragon's Gold," from Bard in Kansas City. There may be more, but we'll talk about that after a bit.

The market thrust for Redbridge, and one used by the others, is that sorghum produces a gluten-free beer. Apparently barley, and wheat, leave gluten in the wort after malting and cooking. Spelt, triticale, and some of the other "heritage" grains and wonder grasses from which the cereals are made that cost you five bucks in the organic section of your local grocery, also have glutens, so if you have celiac disease or other gluten troubles, cast off your Kashi and Barbara's. Weizenbier lovers, Bud fans (barley with rice adjunct), and everyone else, if you have difficulties after drinking beer in moderation, you might want to check with your doctor or allergist. Miller drinkers, I still believe that Miller products rely too much on clarifiers, head adjusters and other lab additives to be entirely good for you, although I owe it to fairness to try a couple of the new Miller Lite craft flavors (none made from sorghum).

I can't locate Dragon's Gold in western Wisconsin, but I got hold of some New Grist and some Redbridge. A taste test suggests that Redbridge, the Anheuser-Busch product, is more palatable. It's slightly red in color, and clear. There's a little something unusual as it goes into your mouth, but it's nicely hopped and it finishes fairly clean. The New Grist, from Lakefront, uses rice as an adjunct grain. It is golden, although a richer color than most American lagers, and also clear. But it's a bit disappointing in the mouth, as it's vaguely sour - and a little gummy (the hops in the Redbridge cut that effect). I had tried New Grist once before, and the recent tasting confirms what I had remembered. Although I had skipped Redbridge because it was from a megabrewer, A-B, if I'm going to drink my way to energy independence, it would be the Redbridge. Neither one is as flavorful or as rewarding as a good Maibock.

In the meantime, as the corn-for-ethanol push drives prices up for all corn and for food, all I can do is hope that somebody will keep growing barley instead of plowing it under and planting more corn. What about beef barley soup? What about Grape-Nuts? Is nothing sacred? I've had some rye beers - SunRye from Redhook is very nice - but where are the beers from oats? Or, say, spelt? Triticale? Quinoa?

It's a damn shame when they come and piss all over your simple beer drinking.