Anyone ever brewed (or even tasted) Tongba?

[seymour]

I was investigating whether you could malt and brew with millet, which struck me as very similar to our handy cereal grains, when I stumbled across this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongba

Tongba/Jaand is essentially millet beer, of ancient cultural and religious importance to the Limbu people of Nepal, Darjeeling and Sikkim.

Have you ever heard of it? Sampled it? Made it?

[TheSheeprug]

I was investigating whether you could malt and brew with millet, which struck me as very similar to our handy cereal grains, when I stumbled across this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongba

Tongba/Jaand is essentially millet beer, of ancient cultural and religious importance to the Limbu people of Nepal, Darjeeling and Sikkim.

Have you ever heard of it? Sampled it? Made it?

Oh yes - numerous times during a couple of treking trips to Nepal in years gone past. It's a bit of an acquired taste, but very much the right drink for the environment. It would be interesting to make some, but I suspect that rather like drinking pastis outside of southern France, it simply wouldn't be the same at all. It seems to be basically millet, but there were bits of maize floating about in mine too, and I'd expect the content to vary depending on what was available.

"Sweet tongba sliding down,
We're gonna drink in the Tibetian side of town".
(Bruce Cockburn,Tibetian side of town.)

SR

[barney]

I tried it a long time ago in Kathmandu, wasnt particularly nice but it helped get the water buffalo down. I remember the colour more than the flavour, it being White.

[fatbloke]

Isn't that similar/the same as the stuff brewed in parts of Central Africa ?

[oldbloke]

I've malted and brewed with millet, it's very acceptable when treated as we treat barley.

Tongba and much of the African stuff is drunk after a minimal ferment, with no clearing, and there's no hops, so it's very different.