What the sources record about each of these so far.
Abati (Paraguay, Argentina)Paraguay, north-east Argentina
Abati is listed by the FAO as an alcoholic maize drink of Paraguay and Argentina. No published source found describes how it is made, so the atlas shows it under the maize chicha it most likely resembles.
- Ferment maize
Agkud (Manobo rice wine)Bukidnon, Mindanao
Agkud is the fermented rice of the Manobo of Bukidnon, made with ginger, sugarcane juice and a rice starter called tapey (agonan). It is eaten as a fermented paste after about three days, and its liquid, left longer in a jar, is drunk as rice wine; aged further it becomes pangasi.
- Cook the rice
- Mix with tapey, ginger and cane juice
- Ferment in a jar
Akaisake (red sake) and kuroshu (brown-rice sake)Japan
Also called 赤い酒, 黒酒, red sake, kuroshu.
Akaisake is sake made with red yeast rice koji (Monascus purpureus), which gives it a pink-tinted appearance. Kuroshu is sake made from unpolished brown rice. No primary source describing either was found.
- Colour (akaisake)
- Pink-tinted, like a rosé wine, from brewing with red yeast rice koji (Monascus purpureus) (Wikipedia)
- Rice (kuroshu)
- Made from unpolished rice, that is brown rice, and said to be more like huangjiu (Wikipedia)
Made like Sake (base flow: junmai, sokujo starter).
Åland shipwreck beer (1840s), a recovered historical beerÅland, Finland
Five bottles of beer were raised in 2010 from a schooner wreck lying at 48 m off Åland, along with bottles of champagne. VTT and partners found two different hopped beers that had been fermented by brewing yeast and then changed by bacteria and enzymes over about 170 years on the seabed. Live beer-spoilage lactic bacteria were recovered from the bottles; how the beer was brewed is inferred.
- Boil the wort with hops
- Ferment with brewing yeast
- Bottle and cork
- Lie on the seabed170 years · 2–4 °C
- Londesborough J., Dresel M., Gibson B. et al. 2015, Analysis of beers from an 1840s' shipwreck, J. Agric. Food Chem. 63(9):2525–2536 (abstract)
- Kajala I., Bergsveinson J., Friesen V. et al. 2018, Lactobacillus backii and Pediococcus damnosus isolated from 170-year-old beer recovered from a shipwreck lack the metabolic activities required to grow in modern lager beer, FEMS Microbiol. Ecol. 94(1):fix152 (abstract)
- Ålands landskapsregering / Museibyrån 2011, Champagnegaleasen – en marinarkeologisk undersökning (The Champagne Schooner, a maritime archaeological investigation)
- Sci.News 2015, Chemists analyze beer from 1840s' shipwreck (news report of Londesborough et al.)
- Jeandet P., Heinzmann S.S., Roullier-Gall C. et al. 2015, Chemical messages in 170-year-old champagne bottles from the Baltic Sea, PNAS 112(19):5893–5898 (the same wreck; gives the storage temperature)
Ancient Egyptian beer (hqt, heqet)Egypt
Also called ḥnqt.
Ancient Egyptian beer was brewed from malted emmer wheat or barley. Microscopy of dried beer residues suggests brewers mixed cooked and uncooked malt with water, strained off the husk and then added yeast, rather than simply soaking bread. The oldest known brewery, at Hierakonpolis, heated mash in large clay vats; all of the method is inferred from residues and remains.
- Oldest brewery
- Hierakonpolis locality HK11C, residue dated 3764–3537 cal BCE (2 sigma), about 3600 BCE
- Malt the grain
- Cook part of the malt and mix it with raw malt and water
- Strain off the husk
- Add yeast and ferment in jars
Apong (Mising/Adi rice beer)Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, India
Also called আপং, poro apong, nogin apong, sai mod.
Apong is the rice beer of the Mising and Adi peoples. Rice is mixed with a herbal starter cake and fermented as a damp solid for about a week, then water is run through it and the beer is drained off. White nogin apong is made from steamed rice; black poro apong adds charred rice husk and is filtered through ash, giving a dark, clear beer.
- Consumption
- The most consumed fermented drink in all 14 districts surveyed; men's consumption peaked at 75.2 % in Tirap
- Prepare the rice
- Mix in the powdered starter cake
- Ferment as a damp solid7–10 days
- Run water through and drain the beer
- Drink within days
- Shrivastava K., Greeshma A.G., Srivastava B. 2012, Biotechnology in tradition: a process technology of alcoholic beverages practiced by different tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, North East India, Indian Journal of Traditional Knowledge 11(1):81–89
- Das S., Deb D., Adak A., Khan M.R. 2019, Exploring the microbiota and metabolites of traditional rice beer varieties of Assam and their functionalities, 3 Biotech 9(5):174
- Das S. et al. 2023, A single dietary factor, daily consumption of a fermented beverage, can modulate the gut bacteria and fecal metabolites, mSystems
- Das R., Medhi M.C., Tamang B. 2026, Microbial diversity and its links to retinol pathways and aroma compounds in ethnic fermented rice beverages of Assam, AMB Express 16:91
Ara (Bhutanese grain spirit)Bhutan
Also called ཨ་རག་, arag.
Ara is Bhutan's home-made grain spirit. Cooked maize, barley, wheat, rice or millet is cooled on a bamboo mat, sprinkled with a dry starter cake such as phab, left to ferment wrapped in blankets and then distilled. Some ara is drunk only fermented.
- Make the phab starter
- Cook the grain in a large cauldron
- Cool on a bamboo mat and sprinkle with starter
- Ferment wrapped in blankets
- Distil (or drink the fermented form)
Safety: Distillation concentrates methanol as well as ethanol.
- Wikipedia, Ara (drink) (outline only)
- UVA Mandala, 'Ara making' (could not be fetched in 2026-10; its process outline was seen only in search summaries)
- Rawat J.M., Pandey S., Debbarma P., Rawat B. "Preparation of alcoholic beverages by tribal communities in the Indian Himalayan Region: a review on traditional and ethnic consideration." Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5:672411, 2021, Table 1
- Pradhan P., Tamang J.P. 2019, Phenotypic and genotypic identification of bacteria isolated from traditionally prepared dry starters of the Eastern Himalayas, Frontiers in Microbiology 10:2526
Baekseju (Korean herbal rice wine)Korea
Also called 백세주, 百歲酒, baekse-ju, Bek Se Ju.
Baekseju is a branded Korean yakju, a clear rice wine flavoured with ginseng, goji (gugija), omija and other dried herbs. Its maker grinds the rice raw instead of steaming it and ferments it with wheat nuruk, in a seed mash and then a main mash, before the wine is settled, filtered and pasteurised.
- Grind the raw rice with water
- Brew the seed mash with nuruk and herbs2–3 days
- Ferment the main mash3–4 days
- Settle and filter off the lees24 h
- Pasteurise at low temperature and bottle
Bahar (Sabah coconut palm wine with rosok bark)Malaysia
Bahar is the coconut palm wine of Sabah's Kadazan-Dusun. Fresh sap from the cut coconut flower stalk is mixed with rosok tree bark, covered and left for about a day, and turns red, sweet and slightly sour. It is commonly served at occasions such as Kaamatan and Christmas.
- Collect fresh coconut sap
- Add rosok bark, stir slowly, cover with cloth or banana leaf
- Ferment12–24 h
Bais and kabarawan (Philippine honey wines, extinct)Mindanao
Bais and kabarawan were Philippine honey wines. Bais was honey and water left to ferment, made by the Mandaya and Manobo of north-eastern Mindanao; Visayan kabarawan added the bark of the kabarawan tree. Both are extinct and known only from colonial-era accounts, so the steps here are an outline.
- Dilute the honey with water
- Ferment diluted honey
Bankhe-kham (Karbi cassava beer)India
Bankhe-kham is the Karbi beer made from cassava (tapioca) instead of rice. The cassava is cooked, cooled and ground to a paste, then fermented with a starter in pots as for apong, for about 4–9 days depending on the season. The Karbi draw the beer out with water through a bamboo pole and a dried luffa sponge.
- Cook cassava, cool and grind to a paste
- Mix with starter and ferment in pots as for apong4–9 days
- Add water and ferment a little longer (kodtak)8–9 h
- Draw the beer up a bamboo pole and squeeze it out with a luffa
Safety: Cassava holds cyanide-forming compounds that can cause vomiting, collapse and in some cases death. Our sources say only that the cassava is cooked; none measures cyanide in this beer or mentions a soak. FAO says simple boiling is not always reliable and bitterness is not necessarily a reliable sign of cyanide. An overview by S.K. Hahn on FAO's site recommends plain boiling only for low-cyanide varieties. This page is a record of the method, not a recipe to follow.
- Shrivastava K., Greeshma A.G., Srivastava B. 2012, Biotechnology in tradition: a process technology of alcoholic beverages practiced by different tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, North East India, Indian J. Traditional Knowledge 11(1):81–89 (read from a web.archive.org copy)
- Rawat J.M., Pandey S., Debbarma P., Rawat B. 2021, Preparation of alcoholic beverages by tribal communities in the Indian Himalayan Region: a review on traditional and ethnic consideration, Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5:672411, Table 1
- FAO 1990, Roots, tubers, plantains and bananas in human nutrition, ch. 7, Toxic substances and antinutritional factors (cassava toxicity)
- Hahn S.K., An overview of traditional processing and utilization of cassava in Africa, FAO Corporate Document Repository (x5458e)
Basi (Ilocano sugarcane wine)Ilocos, Luzon, Philippines
Also called basi, basí.
Basi is the sugarcane wine of the Ilocos region. Fresh cane juice is boiled with samak bark and leaves, cooled in burnay stoneware jars, started with parek, and left sealed for months. The method is not standardised and varies from maker to maker.
- Boil cane juice with samak bark, then samak leaves, and skim
- Pour into a burnay jar and cool24 h
- Add parek, cover with samak leaves and seal or bury the jarat least 2 months
Safety: No sourced safety values were found for basi.
Bees wine (beer bees, Californian bees)Rural United States and Britain, from the 1850s to the mid-20th century
Also called bees wine, beeswine, wine bees, beer seeds, Californian bees, Palestinian bees.
Bees wine was a home-brewed drink made by keeping gelatinous grains of yeast and bacteria, the "bees", in a jar of water sweetened with brown sugar and treacle. The grains rose and fell on the bubbles of gas, and every week or so the fermented liquid was poured off and drunk and the jar was topped up with fresh sugar water. The result was a mildly alcoholic, rather sweet, slightly sour drink.
- Start a culture (if none is to hand)2 days
- Put the bees into sweetened water
- Ferment
- Pour off the drink and top up with sugar water7 days
Safety: The culture is a mixture of unknown composition. The National Collection of Yeast Cultures stopped supplying it to the public for health and safety reasons.
Brem (Balinese rice wine; also brem cake)Bali
Also called brem, brem Bali, Balinese rice wine.
Brem is a sweet, brownish rice wine from Bali. Glutinous rice, often black and white together, is steamed and fermented with ragi tape into a juicy tape mash for about five days; the liquid is pressed out and fermented a second time, for weeks to months, before it is bottled.
- Soak, drain and steam the rice1 h
- Cool and mix in ragi tape
- Ferment the rice as tape mash5 days
- Press out the liquid
- Second fermentation of the pressed liquid15 days – 6 months
Safety: Brem is an alcoholic wine, and the liquid brem in Sujaya's study held 8.6 % (w/v) ethanol.
- Sujaya I.N., Mikumo D., Orikasa Y., Urashima T., Oda Y. 2011, Baking properties of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strains derived from brem, a traditional rice wine from Bali, Food Science and Technology Research 17(4):369–373 (introduction cites Sujaya et al. 2000 and 2004)
- Nazarudin H. 2013, Making brem and arak Bali, The Jakarta Post, 26 January 2013
- Wikipedia, Brem (outline only)
- Wikipedia, Tapai (outline only)
Buza (Tatar and Crimean millet boza, alcoholic)Crimea, the Caucasus and Turkestan
Also called буза.
Buza is a thick, cloudy, lightly alcoholic drink of fermented cereal, usually millet but also oats or buckwheat. Russian dictionaries of 1880 and 1907 describe it as a braga-like hopped or plain drink that came into Russia with the Tatars.
- Pour boiling water over mixed groats
- Sour and ferment, sometimes with hops
Charagua (Mexico)Mexico
Also called charagua.
Charagua is a Mexican alcoholic drink listed by FAO as pulque syrup with chilli and toasted maize leaves, heated slowly and fermented. That one-line description is all the public sources give; no recipe, amounts, times or measurements were found.
- Combine pulque syrup, chilli and toasted maize leaves
- Heat slowly
- Ferment
Chengang jiu ("sinks-to-the-jar-bottom wine", Longyan)Longyan, Fujian, China
Also called 沉缸酒, 龙岩沉缸酒, Longyan chengang wine.
Chengang jiu is a sweet red-qu huangjiu from Longyan in Fujian. Its name, "sinks in the jar", comes from the way the wine jar is said to sink and float again and again during brewing. Wikipedia gives it about 20 % alcohol and 20 % sugar.
- Style
- A sweet huangjiu made with hongqu
- Alcohol
- About 20° (20 % alcohol), as given by Wikipedia citing a 1989 reference book
- Sugar
- About 20 %, as given by Wikipedia citing a 1989 reference book
Made like Hongqu jiu / Fujian laojiu (red-qu rice wine).
Chicha de muko (chewed-maize chicha)Andes
Also called muko, aqha (Quechua, chicha).
Chicha de muko is an Andean maize beer in which the starch is turned into sugar by chewing, not by malting. Maize flour is moistened in the mouth and formed into small balls (muko) that are dried; the muko is then cooked with water and left to ferment in large clay vats into a maize beer.
- Chew maize flour into balls
- Cook the muko with water
- Ferment in clay vats
- Lorence-Quiñones A., Wacher-Rodarte C., Quintero-Ramírez R. 1999, Cereal fermentations in Latin American countries, chapter 4 of Haard N.F. et al., Fermented cereals, a global perspective, FAO Agricultural Services Bulletin 138
- Wikipedia, Chicha (outline only)
- Moseley M.E., Nash D.J., Williams P.R. et al. 2005, Burning down the brewery: establishing and evacuating an ancient imperial colony at Cerro Baúl, Peru, PNAS 102(48):17264–17271
Chikokivana (Zimbabwean one-day malt brew)Zimbabwe
Also called chikokivana, chikokiyana.
Chikokivana is a quick Zimbabwean home brew. Millet malt and maize meal are mixed with yeast and water, fermented for about a day in a clay pot or metal drum and strained. A 1999 review lists it with doroluthwala as Zimbabwe's alcoholic drinks from sorghum or millet malt.
- Mix millet malt, maize meal, yeast and water
- Ferment24 h
- Strain
- Gadaga T.H., Mutukumira A.N., Narvhus J.A., Feresu S.B. 1999, A review of traditional fermented foods and beverages of Zimbabwe, Int. J. Food Microbiol. 53(1):1–11 (abstract)
- FermDB (Bokulich lab, ETH Zurich), FermDB_data.tsv, Chikokivana row, citing Gadaga et al. 1999
- Cherfas J. 2007, How to brew beer, Zimbabwe style, Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog (mentions chikokiyana as a quick maize beer)
Chiya (Kayah sorghum beer)Myanmar
Chiya is a grain-in sorghum beer of the Kayah people of eastern Myanmar, brewed only by women. Sorghum is boiled until sticky, mixed with a home-made yeast cake and left two days in a fibre basket, then sealed in a clay pot for five to seven days. It is sipped through a straw from the pot, grains and all.
- Boil the sorghum until stickyat least 1 h
- Cool on mats and mix in the yeast cake
- Rest in a fibre basket2 days
- Seal tightly in a clay pot5–7 days
- Sip through a straw from the pot