Cloudy sour beer of fermented guinea corn, sold warm in Nigeria’s Middle Belt. It is brewed from germinated sorghum and sold from communal calabashes in open-air drinking sheds.
Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment relies on a culture carried in pots used continuously.
What goes into it
- guinea corn — sorghum
- sometimes cassava flour
- water
How it is made
Sorghum is soaked and sprouted over several days, dried and milled, then mashed and left to sour and ferment for two to four days with the culture living in the brewer’s own pots. It is served warm, cloudy and unstrained, and it turns undrinkable within a couple of days.
How long it takes: four to six days from grain to calabash
How it is eaten
Warm from a shared calabash in a drinking shed, often with pepper soup.
History
Brewed from germinated sorghum in the Middle Belt and northern minority areas; sold from communal calabashes in open-air drinking sheds.
Frequently asked questions
What is Burukutu?
Burukutu is a wine & spirit from Nigeria: cloudy sour beer of fermented guinea corn, sold warm in the Middle Belt. Brewed from germinated sorghum in the Middle Belt and northern minority areas; sold from communal calabashes in open-air drinking sheds.
How is Burukutu made?
Sorghum is soaked and sprouted over several days, dried and milled, then mashed and left to sour and ferment for two to four days with the culture living in the brewer’s own pots. It is served warm, cloudy and unstrained, and it turns undrinkable within a couple of days. It takes four to six days from grain to calabash.
Can I make Burukutu at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment relies on a culture carried in pots used continuously.
What goes into Burukutu?
Guinea corn — sorghum, sometimes cassava flour, water.
How is Burukutu eaten?
Warm from a shared calabash in a drinking shed, often with pepper soup.
