Similar experience in Peru, had both the strawberry kind and the un-flavored kind, good stuff, much better than the local crap lagers (note, they don't put barley in Chicha, I think Sam made a Chicha-beer instead of Chicha). I don't know why he didn't just go to Peru and figure out how they make it first, not like its a lost art or anything...
I think he used barley b/c producing chicha on a large scale isn't really possible as he found out, and chicha in Peru is a living drink, they boil it post mouth-mash, then leave it out to ferment. You drink it while it is fermenting, and it is pretty low-alcohol, which is why they serve it in ginormous cups.
If you are ever in peru, there are plenty of houses with a red flag hanging by the door, this means they sell Chicha. Would I (an american with a poor immune system) drink it from a random house, not so much. I drank it at a place that was a little...cleaner...and makes it so tourists don't die.
Sam really is a media whore huh?
