Kumis

Kumis is the fermented mare's-milk drink of the Central Asian steppe — known as qymyz to the Kazakhs, kymyz to the Kyrgyz and airag to the Mongolians — the iconic beverage of the region's nomadic herders. Fresh mare's milk, naturally rich in sugar, is soured and lightly carbonated by a wild culture of lactic-acid bacteria and yeasts, which turns its lactose into lactic acid, a little ethanol and fizz. The result is a thin, cloudy, pale drink, sharply sour and yeasty with a faint alcoholic tingle and a prickle of carbonation — closer to a tart, fizzy buttermilk than to sweet milk. Only mildly alcoholic, usually well under two percent, it is drunk by the bowlful and is culturally central across Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia.