Quinoa beer

Beer isn't just made from barley. People have been adding other ingredients for hundreds if not thousands of years. Some of these are quite familiar (wheat, rye) and others common but less well known (corn, rice) and some seldom used, like quinoa. Actually i had never come across a quinoa beer. I love quinoa and cook with it on a regular basis, I love its nutty flavour and grainy texture - how much of this would translate across into the beer?

Well, when I saw this in a bottle shop in Paris I had to try it. What did it taste like? Opening it I got a big whiff of normal lager aroma (i'm not a big lager fan, to me its the smell of dank armpit) but this settled out quickly. This was brewed pale/pilsner style with a few noble hops basically letting the gran shine through. It was hazy, with a good head (all that protein from the quinoa). It had a very clean malt and yeast profile too. The reason for the bland flavour was to allow the quinoa flavours to come through. And to my surprise they did. Nutty, creamy, a slightly thicker mouthfeel that you'd think just looking and smelling the beer. Really good. I'd go back for more of this, if only I lived in France.