Fonio? What In The World Is This, Now? What Are You Up To, MadTree?

Written By: The Gnarly Gnome
Photography By: The Gnarly Gnome

I stopped for a West Coast IPA and some wings, and instead, I was immediately distracted during my visit yesterday to MadTree Brewing Company with a beer called ‘Canopy Rising’. Glancing up at the soulless digital menu (I hate those things), the description for the beer read “Fonio Ale”. I drink… a lot, and I have never heard of this before. Rabbit hole unlocked… let’s take a journey. 4.5% ABV, we can have a few of these to try to figure this thing out.

Taking The Easy Approach

Of course, I did what any self respecting craft beer drinker bellied up to the bar at their local spot would do when they were confused by a new beer style they hadn’t heard of. I asked my bartender.

Unfortunately, this beer was so new that even the bartender didn’t know anything about it. I didn’t know, he didn’t know, I was just about to chalk it up to some kind of inside joke that I wasn’t in on before I decided to do a quick little Google check. Turns out it’s a thing, and it’s a thing that’s right in line with a topic that I’ve been slightly obsessed with off and on for the last year or two – sustainability.

MadTree (and Google) have taken me on a deep journey down a rabbit hole over the last couple of days that I can’t break away from—Fonio. It’s a rabbit hole filled with grasses, sustainability, and gluten—welcome to the inside of my brain.

What IS Fonio?

Let’s dig into the source of all of this. Fonio. This was where my journey started. From what I can figure out, it’s an ancient grain, a grass. Sometimes referred to as “Hungry Rice”, “Acha” or “Findi” – it’s been cultivated for around 5,000 years, mainly in Africa. It’s naturally gluten-free.

What’s even crazier is that when it’s being cultivated, Fonio requires no fertilizer, pesticides, irrigation, or chemical inputs—it screams sustainability very loudly.

This is one of the oldest cultivated grains in West Africa. It’s incredible, and as it turns out, it also makes a pretty wild ingredient when you make beer with it.

Fonio In Beer

Fonio first started popping up in relation to beer back in 2018 when Pierre Thiam, a Senegalese-born chef and “fonio advocate,” happened into a conversation with Garrett Oliver from Brooklyn Brewery at a party. What resulted was a collaboration beer between Carlsberg and Brooklyn Brewery that was made 100% with the grain.

From there, a brewery in Utah called Kiitos made the first “All-American” Fonio beer in 2024… and people started talking about the grain.

It’s the perfect beer to celebrate Earth Day 2025—and MadTree knew that. It’s climate and drought resistant, uses less water and energy than Barley, and is delicious.

MadTree’s Canopy Rising

It was by pure chance that I happened into the taproom when this beer was on, and more of a chance that I decided to pick it over the other beers on tap out of pure curiosity. It’s a great beer. Light in body, and only 4.5% ABV, a beer that you can knock back a few of.

The beer (from what I read) is a perfect representation of what fonio can add to the beers it helps create. Packed full of Tropical fruit, like passion fruit, a little peachiness, and a really cool white wine taste that hit me front and center. On top of that, Fonio lends a really lovely body that honestly caught me off guard, considering the beer’s light color.

The more I read about the grain, it sounds like if you use 100% fonio, the color comes out almost like a Sake versus a beer – rice, fonio… There’s a strong relation there.

Even without the added “gimmick” of fonio – this is a beer I’d seek out to drink. It’s perfect for the warmer months, and I hope it’s not just a one-and-done thing for MadTree.

I can’t encourage you enough to get out to your favorite MadTree taproom (you know that there are three of them now, between 2.0, The Alcove, and Parks and Rec in Blue Ash, right) and try this beer before it’s gone. Heck… if you go on Earth Day, today, you can feel like you’re doing some good for the environment at the same time.

Actually, now that I’m saying it out loud, I’m going to finish this blog post and head over to grab some lunch there again. Stop me; I dare you.