Cloudy sour sorghum beer brewed at home and drunk from shared jars. It is made from fermented sorghum across the Nile valley; prohibited in Sudan under sharia law from 1983, it stayed legal and everyday in the south.
Home brewing of alcohol is licensed or restricted in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment relies on a culture carried forward in the brewer’s own vessels.
What goes into it
- sorghum, sprouted and dried
- water
- a portion of a previous brew
How it is made
Sorghum is soaked and sprouted, dried and ground, then mixed with water and left to sour for a day. The soured mash is cooked, cooled and inoculated with a little of the previous batch, and ferments a day or two more. It is served warm, thick and unstrained.
How long it takes: three to five days from grain to jar
How it is eaten
From a shared jar or a gourd, warm, at gatherings and in local bars.
History
Brewed from fermented sorghum across the Nile valley; prohibited in Sudan under sharia law from 1983, it remained legal and everyday in the south.
Frequently asked questions
What is Merissa?
Merissa is a wine & spirit from South Sudan: cloudy sour sorghum beer brewed at home and drunk from shared jars. Brewed from fermented sorghum across the Nile valley; prohibited in Sudan under sharia law from 1983, it remained legal and everyday in the south.
How is Merissa made?
Sorghum is soaked and sprouted, dried and ground, then mixed with water and left to sour for a day. The soured mash is cooked, cooled and inoculated with a little of the previous batch, and ferments a day or two more. It is served warm, thick and unstrained. It takes three to five days from grain to jar.
Can I make Merissa 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 forward in the brewer’s own vessels.
What goes into Merissa?
Sorghum, sprouted and dried, water, a portion of a previous brew.
How is Merissa eaten?
From a shared jar or a gourd, warm, at gatherings and in local bars.
