SOKA combines distillates of fermented fresh sorghum juice and syrup. The fresh juice lends springy, green flavors of melon, cucumber, and green apple, with the syrup bringing forward darker aromas of harvest, and notes of hay and toasted honey.

Flavor

Fresh cut grass,
green apple,
silage.

Ingredients

Sorghum Cane, Thai Rice Chong Yeast

Serve

Enjoy neat, with cola or twist on a Mojito

SOKA is an intersection of flavors bound by our incessant curiosity and one key ingredient: sorghum.

Fermentation is a large part of our creative process, as is our constant search for new sources of sugar, the key to it all. So, when sorghum came to mind, it got us thinking. This truly ancient grain is the fifth most produced cereal crop worldwide, playing a large role in beer production across Africa and Asia. But what about the stalk that supports it? Where are all the sorghum-based spirits of the world? And so we delved further, looking into sorghum’s rich history, properties and high sugar content.

To begin with, we started fermenting sorghum syrup and decided to also experiment with fresh cane juice from European sorghum. We tried strain upon strain of yeast from our neighbor White Labs Copenhagen until we came across a winner: Thai Rice Chong. The resulting ferment delivered aromas and flavors reminiscent of freshly cut grass, green apples and barnyards. We were hooked – and we had a vision.

Excited and ready for more, we headed to Wisconsin to get our hands on sorghum syrup and juice from veteran hobbyists-turned-experts Richard and Brenda Wittgreve.