Beer is a form of artistic expression; Beer is a form of activism and Beer is a form of storytelling.
The beer that we are brewing now will evolve in the next century due to the fact that the ingredients that we are using now would have evolved and the water quality would have changed as well. We are telling a story with regards to the beer that we are brewing right now, the generation that will be living centuries from right now will use our history that we are creating due to the beers that we are making to understand what is going on in the times we live in now.
If you read up on beer history you will find out that the waxy haze on the skin of grapes and many other fruits was actually brewer’s yeast, the seasonings of ancient northern beers used juniper, honey, cranberries, and an herb called meadowsweet thousands of years ago. This is history, this is documentation, this is story telling. The collaboration of a beer brewer and a founder of beer is art Obakeng and Amanda Camp a beer brewer living in the USA is what is called a relationship forged in fire and ice and a tornado. Obakeng has crazy ideas and Amanda understands all of them. They get each other. Amanda understands beer as a form of storytelling. She uses beer to pay homage to the goddesses and legends all around the world. She founded the beer Goddess series whereby she pays homage to the Japanese goddess Ame-no-Uzume, Yuki Onna, Amaterasu to name a few. She does this through beer by brewing a beer and labeling it with a picture of a goddess.
Obakeng’s beer Mamogaswa made it to this year’s Goddess series. Mamogaswa beer is tart ale made with sorghum, corn, lime, coconut, ginger, and salt. These are unique and unusual combinations of ingredients. Obakeng wanted the flavor to be like fire and ice, a tornado in your mouth just like Mamogaswa which legend says that it is a half snake , half woman living in a river or dam and when she is upset she comes out in the form of a tornado and flies people’s houses away.
Originally Obakeng wanted a wasabi in the beer, warheads candies or toxic waste brand of sour candies to bring out that extreme sour just like gherkins which after a first bite you will sweat a bit if you are not used to them. Amanda knew exactly how to create that effect in a beer.
Mamogaswa is a river snake; some say it is half human, half fish and other tribes say that it is a mermaid. Obakeng was told as a child not to play in the river because she is going to take them. As they grew up some people stopped believing this legend but Obakeng did not. Her village used to pay their respects to Mamogaswa in a form of traditional ceremonies asking for forgiveness when they angered her. Sometimes she would be moving from one river or dam to another, when she moves, she does it in a form of a thunderstorm so that the villagers cannot see her. Suddenly the clouds gather and they become dark gray.
That thunderstorm will be so heavy that it will fly off the roof of houses. Mamogaswa will sometimes move from one river trying to go to another while in the process of flying she will see a place where it is only aluminum shacks, those aluminum shacks will be shiny and Mamogaswa would think that those houses are water. Trying to settle there she will fly the roofs of those aluminums shacks away. Eventually Mamogaswa would see that those are in fact aluminum shacks and move to the right place which is the river or dam. Sometimes children would be swimming at the dam that is known to have Mamogaswa and they would leave and not be seen again. People who are fake traditional healers can be taken by Mamogaswa and not be seen again because they perhaps angered her or did not pay their respects when entering the water. There are a lot of men and women who have been taken and not returned
The river that has Mamogaswa in it is respected and not approached without performing a traditional ceremony. There are different ways people can anger Mamogaswa, this is by doing drinking parties at a river that it is occupied by her or ignorant people who would go there fishing
By brewing Mamogaswa beer Amanda Camp and Obakeng told the story of a legend, a story of a Goddess known as Mamogaswa. Growing up in the village Obakeng was told that Mamogaswa lives in the rivers and dams in her village. So as the millennial in her village know nothing about this Goddess who is half woman half snake they used beer to tell her story. They reignite story telling, African Folk tales, stories that Obakeng’s grandparents used to tell her while sitting by the fire.
To the people in Missouri USA who will be consuming this beer Mamogaswa, they will ask the question who or what Mamogaswa is and they will be told a story of what she is. Now not only is beer an art but beer is storytelling. Especially when they will be consuming this beer and getting the tornado effect in their pallet because of the ingredients they put in.
So for Obakeng she is still in the Beer is Art path teaching the youth to make beer but they are not going to make them normal beer makers. The youth will make beers that tell a story, whatever story they want to tell. They will make activism beers on whatever issue they want to talk about.
The beer is also a crowdfunding beer for Beer is Art. The youth over the age of 21 years are sitting at home unemployed. The campaign teaches about beer, that beer is not something that you drink and get drunk off. They teach beer and food pairing, beer brewing, beer podcast and licensing. They show the youth that they can turn beer into a career. The beer is released under EBB AND FLOW FERMENTATIONS which is based in 11 S Spanish St, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701 USA.
For More Information:
https://www.ebbandflowfermentations.com/