When it comes to craft beer, the breadth of possible ingredients continues to, well, brew. The new kid on the block, however, isn’t just new to beer, it’s new to almost everyone. You won’t even find kiwiberry listed in the dictionary.
Which makes the notion of the UNH Brewing Science Lab creating a kiwiberry beer all the more exciting. Kiwiberries may be small — they’re grape-sized — but they’re cold-hardy. And while they’ve been growing in New England for nearly 150 years, the nutrient-rich berries are just now coming into use.
During the fall semester, UNH’s new brewing program made up batches of Arguta Sour, a beer made from kiwiberries grown as part of groundbreaking research being done by the N.H. Agricultural Experiment Station at the Woodman Horticultural Farm.
“We are a small brewery, so we don’t make much at one time and we only package in kegs, but given the popularity of this brew, we have already frozen another 15 gallons of kiwiberries to use in the future,” says Cheryl Parker, manager of the UNH Brewing Science Lab.
“I think this will make a fantastic spring beer, and I’m currently talking with a local craft brewery to see if they would like to make it as a larger batch.”
As for the taste? Hop+Grind in downtown Durham went through two kegs of the beer, a twist on a traditional Berliner-Weisse, shortly after they got it.
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Written By:
Jody Record ’95 | Communications and Public Affairs | jody.record@unh.edu
