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Alcoholic drinks from Cerro Baúl, Moquegua, southern Peru

Wari state brewery chicha at Cerro Baúl (maize and molle)chicha de molle

A Wari brewery on the summit of Cerro Baúl had separate rooms for milling, boiling and fermenting, and made about 1,800 L of chicha a batch. Abundant molle seeds in its ash suggest beer from molle berries as well as sprouted maize. The brewery was burned after a last feast.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Wari state brewery chicha at Cerro Baúl itself.

Short entryAlcoholic drinks3 days – 5 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedThe brewery's 12 fermenting vats held up to 150 L each, about 1,800 L a batch. Whether maize and molle were brewed separately or together is not known.
Sprouted maize, milledChicha de jora needs milled sprouted kernels[moseley2005]
Molle berriesIn modern Ayacucho practice an earthen vessel is filled halfway with berries and topped up with water[moseley2005][valdez2012]
Water[valdez2012]

Total time across the recorded steps: 3 days – 5 days

Start
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What changes: Sprouted maize is ground on stones

Step 1 of 3
Mill sprouted maize
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: maize flour.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

A Wari brewery on the summit of Cerro Baúl had separate rooms for milling, boiling and fermenting, and made about 1,800 L of chicha a batch. Abundant molle seeds in its ash suggest beer from molle berries as well as sprouted maize. The brewery was burned after a last feast. Made in 3 steps over 3 days – 5 days. The longest step, ferment in the patio vats, takes 3–5 days (Moseley M.E 2005).

Key numbers
Main step3–5 daysReported[moseley2005]Ferment in the patio vats

What makes this one different

This entry is one excavated state brewery, not a living recipe. Its scale, about 1,800 L a batch, and its separate rooms for milling, boiling and fermenting show chicha made for state feasts.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Molle beer of Ayacucho (modern)Berries soaked about two hours, the sweet water fermented a couple of days in narrow-necked jars kept only for molle beer; at most four days from harvest to drinking.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Radiocarbon dates from the brewery fall between about AD 530 and 1220 at 2σ. At abandonment a last batch was brewed and served about a week later to nobles in the court; there were 28 lords if each drank from one kero, in seven sets of four. The building was then set on fire and each lord threw his kero into the flames.

  1. [moseley2005] Moseley M.E., Nash D.J., Williams P.R., deFrance S.D., Miranda A., Ruales M. 2005, Burning down the brewery, establishing and evacuating an ancient imperial colony at Cerro Baúl, Peru, PNAS 102(48):17264–17271paper
  2. [valdez2012] Valdez L.M. 2012, Molle beer production in a Peruvian central highland valley, Journal of Anthropological Research 68:71–93paper