The initiative includes industry names such as Brooklyn Brewery, Carlsberg and Guinness, who will create a series of limited-edition beers that will spotlight fonio's qualities. It is the creation of Brooklyn Brewery’s brewmaster, Garrett Oliver, who pioneered fonio brewing in 2019.
"If what we've started truly catches hold in the industry, we will hopefully start seeing the wider use of a grain that has no need for irrigation, fertilisers, pesticides or other chemical inputs,” said Oliver. “It also supports soil regeneration while providing a vital source of income for thousands of smallholder farms in West Africa."
Brewing partners alongside Brooklyn Brewery, include Maison Kalao from Senegal, Thornbridge from the UK, Omnipollo from Sweden, Carlsberg from Denmark, Russian River from the US, Jing-A from China, and Guinness, will each create a beer made with fonio.
The series of collaborations will also be showing support for The Michael James Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling, an organisation founded by Oliver. The organisation is dedicated to funding scholarship awards for black, indigenous and people of colour (BIPOC) within the brewing and distilling trades, who will receive a portion of the proceeds from all the beer released under this campaign.
