From Ocean To Potion: Kelp Finds A Niche In The Craft Beer Market
Kelp isn't a new flavor enhancer for brewers. For hundreds of years, coastal farmers in Scotland grew grains in seaweed beds. But briny brews have been slow to catch on in the United States.
Kelp was dubbed "the new kale" a few years back by chefs, nutritionists and foodies who embraced its oceanic flavors and purported health benefits. Now seaweed is the star ingredient in "Selkie," a beer at the Portsmouth Brewery on New Hampshire's seacoast. Its named after a mesmerizing, mythological water creature that — as the story goes — can shed its skin to take human form on land.
For over a decade, brewery owner Joanne Francis fantasized about making a kelp beer. She discovered one in
