The Bootlegger in Your Mouth

Over the weekend, Microkhan had the enormous pleasure of re-watching Werner Herzog’s Fitzcarraldo, about a daft German’s attempt to build an opera house in early 20th-century Iquitos. Without giving too much away, the quest brings him in contact with an Amazonian tribe that prepares chicha the old-fashioned way: By balling up the maize in their mouths, and letting their saliva do the fermenting.

Upon seeing this scene, Microkhan wondered how such a thing could be possible. Fortunately, the good f