Why the Carlsberg and Brooklyn Fonio beer is a taste of the future

A new type of beer has been created that uses 100% fonio grains, without any bittering hops or barley. Jessica Mason spoke to Carlsberg’s director of brewing science about the collaboration with Brooklyn Brewery.

The grain, which has thrived in West Africa for more than 5,000 years and is drought-resistant, is a world-first brew that, according to the brewers, demonstrates what can be achieved with new brewing techniques and ingredients.

The new 7.5% ABV beer, simply named Fonio, is part of Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver’s ‘Brewing for Impact’ campaign, which was launched to celebrate 30 years with the brewery and aims to highlight how fonio has untapped brewing potential and can drive positive change in the industry.

The wagyu steak of grains

Speaking to the drinks business, Carlsberg director of brewing science and technology Zoran Gojkovic said that Oliver had told him about fonio many years ago, but that he didn’t know what it was.

He said: “The internet says it is millet, but there are lots of millet grains and this one comes from Africa. But, back then, I misunderstood was what it really was all about. If someone tells you something is beef, but really it is like a variety, like wagyu steak, then it can be more easily understood.

“What I didn’t know was that fonio, compared to other kinds of millet, is like the wagyu steak of grains. Millet, as a cereal could be quite boring, but this in its pure formula is not boring. It is elegant.”

The resulting limited-edition beer, created with 100% fonio grains from Senegal in Africa is, essentially, a raw fonio lager, which is also gluten-free. The beer is made with unmalted fonio and brewed in the Carlsberg Research Laboratory with Carlsberg lager yeast – so bottom fermented, it has been described by the brewing giant as “clean, with soft aromas of apricots, white peaches, and melon with an underlying sweetness and lingering bitterness giving a vibrant and delicate finish”.

Gojkovic told db:“This is unmalted because it is very small, but our machines have a mesh. You don’t need to malt it to make the beer. Nobody has made a 100% fonio beer. We used Carlsberg lager yeast and although it doesn’t contain any bittering hops, we did use aroma hops Galaxy and Cascade.”

Gojkovic explained: “Carlsberg is constantly working to invigorate curiosity and I firmly believe that all progress in the world starts with a spark of curiosity. When Garrett Oliver, brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, approached me to discuss what we could create with fonio, the first thing I thought was why has no one made a beer that is completely fonio?”

He added: “Fonio is an amazing West African grain but it presented several technical challenges for us to learn from and overcome – especially as there are no recipes for a beer like this. However, the extremely clean, crisp beer we’ve made is sure to set curious minds ablaze as we continue to test the potential of fonio in brewing and beyond.”

Food matching

To mark the launch, Carlsberg joined forces with Michelin-starred Chishuru to create a menu perfectly paired with the new brew and, according to Gojkovic, a lot of chefs are already interested in the beer and its potential.

He told db: “A lot of chefs are really interested. I have poured bottles with some people I know. And I don’t tell them what it is. I poured a glass for a guy who was a sake sommelier and he says; ‘Oh, this is very floral, it’s sake from the north side of Hokkaido’. And I say; ‘This is the beer, my friend’ and he had a problem believing it. But actually, when he said that, there is reasoning behind it, which is also why I wanted him to try it, because this beer has many subtle sake notes and lots of white peach. So, a lot of chefs like its elegance. They can appreciate that it is very simple but still very impactful.”

Describing the first time he experimented with fonio, Gojkovic explained: “We made 20 litres the first time. We had met a chef from Senegal who had come over and he had a few bags with him and he left us with a few bags and we thought: ‘we have to try this’. Fonio is very very little. But the real surprise came when tasting it. It was mind blowing that you could get such elegance and stuff just out of such small grains. Then we had a direct shipment from Senegal. with 100 kilos. It was exciting.”

Previous beers

Last year, Brewgooder teamed up with Brooklyn Brewery to launch a beer made with fonio as a “people-positive alternative” to wheat, co-founder Alan Mahon told db. The brew, which was a Session IPA canned at 4.3% ABV used fonio as a key ingredient and noted that it had the potential to make brewery supply chains more inclusive and less carbon-intensive.

To date, fonio is still not a grain used widely in Britain and the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has previously said that it believes it is unlikely to be so in the future. The trade body noted that while cereal prices have been high for a while driven by the crisis in Ukraine and issues with fertiliser costs, the UK beer industry is somewhat less reliant on exports because it sources barley from UK farms.

In the UK, it is rare to find an all-wheat beer and the main types of beers with a higher wheat content being German and Belgian style wheat beers, meaning that sourcing a wheat alternative is less of a pressing issue.

The Fonio bottle design for the Carlsberg Brooklyn collaboration beer was created by commercial muralist, designer and painter Kevin Bongang who originates from Cameroon, West Africa and the label features his signature style of bold colours as a genial nod to the fonio grain’s rich African history.

Carlsberg’s Fonio beer will be available in limited quantities from the Home of Carlsberg in Copenhagen from August.