Local craft beer company Alechemist, founded by National Taiwan University agronomy students, insists on using ingredients grown in Taiwan
Taipei Times
Date Sep 16, 2015
By: Han Cheung / Staff Reporter
What happens when a group of National Taiwan University agronomy students step out of
Beer bottles with the Alechemist logo. Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health. Photo courtesy of Alechemist
their labs to tackle the nation’s low agricultural diversity in a culturally relevant fashion?
Enter Alechemist (禾餘麥酒), a craft beer company that insists on using ingredients produced in Taiwan. If a certain crop isn’t being produced in Taiwan, they plan to work with farmers to grow it. So far, they’ve been able to use Taiwanese products as their main ingredients, but are still working on cultivating secondary ingredients such as hops. They’ve come up with one product so far, a cream ale made with self-produced wheat and Tainan white corn, the chewy type often found grilled in nightmarkets.
Founder Chen Hsiang-chuan (陳相全) says there aren’t many products nowadays that represent local food. For example, people don’t make cocktails out of Kaoliang liquor anymore. [FULL STORY]
