Since 2023 we have been constantly evaluating how to maximise the impact this project can make, through three key pillars:
1. VOLUME COMMITMENT - In 2024 we have set a target to purchase and brew with at least 5000 kilograms of millet per annum. That is 18% of our annual grain (malt) usage!
2. SUSTAINABLE SOURCING POLICY - For the benefit of our demand to reach small farmers, we are committed to buying our millets directly from them, cutting out long supply chains with multiple middle men. This way, we pay farmers the full price. We are focused on sourcing from farmers in drought-prone regions.
3. DRIVING CONVERSATION - Beer is a fun and approachable medium through which we can drive larger dialogues around millets. Beginning in Maharashtra, we want to highlight the millet origins and growers we work with.
Our friends at Taru Naturals connected us with a group of farmers in the village of Mohi, in the arid Maan Taluka. Located in the district of Satara, but bordering the drier Solapur district, and situated at the top of a ghat, Mohi is prone to scanty rainfall, facing drought-like conditions nearly once in five years.
Due to steadily declining market demand over the years, and concurrently declining market rates, most farmers have switched from millet cultivation to other commercial crops, which are more demanding on the soil and groundwater, but earn them better returns.
What little jowar and bajra is still grown, is primarily for home consumption, with the occasional surplus being sold to traders at the local market.
In 2024, we have already purchased 2500 kilograms of Jowar from Mohi, and will continue to source more each year.
Brewing with millets has been an exciting challenge. With every millet beer released, we have either experimented with a different beer style or the percentage of millet used in the grain bill.
Starting with 15%, and working our way up to 30%, 58% and eventually 100% millets in the grain bill. Here are the beers we've brewed so far as part of the Miller Beer Project!
Each of these millet beers have been released as part of an artist collaboration series, one in which local Indian artists designed the labels of the beers.
This is an open-source document on brewing millet beers that was made with the support of The Locavore, Mumbai. To create a bigger impact, we want to encourage our friends in the craft beer community to brew with millets as well.
We have collated everything we’ve learned from years of R&D and discussions with our peers into this downloadable handbook on brewing with millets. This way anybody interested in brewing with millets can make use of this research, without having to start from scratch.
Please add your information below to receive an email with the handbook. Happy Brewing!
