The Rice Beers of the Mishing People

I am starting to realize that the Northeastern region of India is a major hub of rice beer brewing. Bear with me though, as it is somewhat challenging to meander through all the available information. Most sources refer to these drinks as wine, despite them actually being beer. Plus some tribes distill the fermented product while still calling it rice wine. So it is a bit confusing wading through the available information. 

Still, the preparation of alcoholic beverages from rice proves to be a fascinating topic, as it is prepared completely differently.

Rice
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A slight difference between rice beer cultures and barley or wheat cultures is exposure to the crop. In Europe, barley had to adapt to Northern European climates which necessitated genetic alterations to adapt to sunlight and water extremes. Domesticated rice, however, originated in an area between Eastern India and China more than 10,000 years ago. The wild variety, Oryza rufipogon, naturally grows in the region and shows a close genetic relationship to the domesticated rice cultivar (O. sativa), leading scientists to believe this is rice’s native region. So once people set up camp in the area, rice was already within the region.

Given this longer exposure to humanity, I imagine there is a greater diversity of rice beer cultures and traditions. This begs for a comparison between rice and barley beer cultures, but that is a question for another time.
 

Brewing Methods

Lungzubel (rice beer container) made by Lamlira in Khobak village, Dima Hasao, Assam, India.

Unlike European and African brewing methods, rice beer brewers have a different approach as rice does not have the alpha and beta amylase enzymes to break down starch. So instead of the typical mash, lauter and boil, the general outline of rice beer brewing is as follows: 

• Prepare the yeast cake 
  
  • Can be bought as well, depending on location
    
• Cook (boil or steam) the rice 
  
  • The primary function of this seems to be to gelatinize the rice
• Let the rice dry
  
  • I am not sure why this step is necessary, but I haven't seen a recipe without it
    
• Grind the yeast cake into a powder, and spread it over the rice
  
• Place rice in a ceramic jar, filling with water to ferment
  
• Fermentation times range from just five days to two weeks
  
• Strain, add more water, drink!

Assam

Assam Region

Within Northeastern India lies the region of Assam. What is unique with Assam? Well besides the tea, it is close to the origins of rice. Assam is connected to the rest of India via a small 22 km strip of land in West Bengal, and shares a border with Bhutan and Bangladesh. In Assam, there's roughly around 130 tribal communities (of the 427 within India), with human settlements dating back to the stone age. 

Each tribe in the region appears to have their own recipes for brewing rice beers, some with more than one way of preparation.

​Take the Mishing (or Mising, I’ve read both names) who have at least two types of rice beer: Nogin Apong and Poro Apong. The former being whitish in color while the latter is a dark greenish color (I take the ‘green’ color with a grain of salt). 

Mishing Tribe
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The Mishing tribe is the second largest group of people located in Assam, the first being the Bodos. The Mishing peoples belong to the greater Tani community, which comprises a majority of tribes from the Arunachal Pradesh regions of India and Tibet. All Tani tribes share linguistic, cultural, and ritual similarities. It is a bit unclear when the Mishing tribe migrated from Northern China to the plains of Assam, but they did so quite a while ago (Iron age era). 

Mishing house

Nogin Apong

As stated above, most Assam tribes use a glutinous rice for the purpose of brewing beer. There are reports stating that the Mishing people prefer to use a ‘sticky rice’, but fail to state which rice that is, and how ‘sticky rice’ would differ from glutinous rice. 

In any case, Nogin Apong is your typical rice beer. Whitish in color, and is prepared in a similar way as Sake or Shaoxing rice wine.

To brew, the Mishing prepare their yeast cakes called Apop pitha. To do so, anywhere between 16 to 39 different plants, herbs, and twigs are gathered and cleaned along a bamboo mat. These can either be used immediately after or sun dried for later use.  Then, soaked rice and the gathered plants are ground separately, then combined with a bit of water to form a dough. This dough is then shaped into ovule-like balls of about 3 cm x 6 cm and are then dried under the sun. 
​So with 16 - 39 different herbs, barks, and twigs going into the starter, I imagine the flavors can range greatly. The Mishing people do use two plants from within the Cinnamomum family, but I doubt they taste like cinnamon, especially when they only use the leaves of the plants. 

It’s also not entirely clear how microorganisms are introduced into yeast cakes, as only one article reports inoculating Apop pitha from previous batches. I assume this is the case, as one Apop pitha yeast cake is enough to ferment around 1 kg of rice.

Next, earthenware pots are prepared for fermentation by fumigating it over a fire.

I am making the assumption here that the earthenware pots are cleaned of the remaining ash, as there are no reports of ash flavor, and that the color of Nogin Apong remains ‘whitish’. 

Rice is then boiled and laid out to dry. Then, the yeast starter Apop Pitha is ground and spread over the rice, which is then placed into the earthenware pots. Banana leaves are used to seal the vessel after it has been filled with water. Then it is left to ferment for four to five days. 

Poro Apong
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This style of rice beer is said to be blackish to reddish brown in color, and is apparently pleasant in aroma and taste. Interestingly, the season to drink this beer is between spring through autumn, which begs the question as to why this beer is not consumed in winter. 

To brew Poro Apong, an apop pitha yeast culture is created and rice is cooked as normal. But when the rice is laid to dry, an ash powder made from rice straw and husks is sprinkled over before the addition of apop pitha. This mixture is then added to earthenware pots (unclear whether these pots were cleaned in the same fashion as before), and sealed with dry straw or fresh leaves. This is then left to ferment for about twenty days. 

After fermentation, the Poro Apong is filtered through a cone made from bamboo, with additional filters of banana leaves within said cone. Water is poured over the mash, to further extract more beer.
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Compounds
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According to one report which analyzed rice beer from Northeast India, most beers range from 3.99% to 5.09% in alcohol, although another resource states that Poro Apong has the strength between 7.52 - 18.5%. Honestly I was expecting alcohol content to be within the 7.52 - 18.5% range, as unfiltered Sake has similar alcohol levels. 

For those curious, the pH ranged between 4.16 to 4.81, with detectable levels of lactic (the most predominate), oxalic, tartaric, pyruvic, formic, and acetic acids. With this range of acids present, there are similar levels of stability (i.e. shelf-life) as seen in lagers.  Furthermore, each beer had differing quantities of organic acids, which further shows how the yeast starter is prepared greatly influences the quality of beer.

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Conclusions

I find it fascinating how the main source of different styles within rice beers from Assam stems from how the yeast starter is prepared. Everything else remains largely the same. Perhaps since there is no boiling of wort, so to speak, grinding and mixing into the yeast starter is the best way to introduce flavors. Or, perhaps it's simply because a yeast starter guarantees the desired fermentative organisms will be present in the batch, so might as well throw in the herbs to save time.

Who knows. More research, more problems.

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References

Bhuyan, Biman, and Krishna Baishya. "Ethno medicinal value of various plants used in the preparation of traditional rice beer by different tribes of Assam, India." Drug Invention Today 5.4 (2013): 335-341.

Das, Arup Jyoti, et al. "HPLC and GC‐MS analyses of organic acids, carbohydrates, amino acids and volatile aromatic compounds in some varieties of rice beer from northeast India." Journal of the Institute of Brewing 120.3 (2014): 244-252.

Gogoi, Barnali, Mayurakhi Dutta, and Prodyut Mondal. "Various Ethno Medicinal Plants used in the Preparation of Apong, a Traditional Beverage use by Mising Tribe of upper Assam." (2013).

Kardong, Devid, et al. "Evaluation of Nutritional and Biochemical aspects of Po: ro apong (Saimod)-A home made alcoholic rice beverage of Mising tribe of Assam, India." (2012).

Tanti, Bhaben, et al. "Ethnobotany of starter cultures used in alcohol fermentation by a few ethnic tribes of Northeast India." (2010).