Microbrewed Adventures - Charles Papazian [85]
Greatly influenced by German brewers who had immigrated to Latin America, there was at one time a diversity of ales and lagers available regionally in cities and the countryside. However, nationalization of brands and beer monopolies have greatly diminished the choices available to the beer drinker. Even if you wanted to pay more money for a full-flavored beer, it is difficult to find one. Fortunately, there are signs that all this may be changing. Brewpubs and microbreweries are emerging in Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Chile, Brazil, Colombia, Peru and several other nations. There are homebrewing co-ops and clubs celebrating their discovery of beer flavor and diversity. Even some of the large brewing companies are beginning to offer amber ales, bocks and wheat beers.
Slowly and patiently, the dormant Latin American passion for beer flavor is reemerging. The hot climate does not mean the beer needs to be tasteless. Pioneers are beginning to succeed by providing choice. People are discovering and drinking their beer with a great deal of appreciation. A microbrewed adventurer will find them.
Czech-Mex in Tijuana
JOSÉ WATCHES HIS CUSTOMERS enjoying beer at his taverna in Tijuana, Mexico. Most are guys, local residents, some with their wives or girlfriends. José notes that one guy is enjoying a chilled half-liter of a pilsener-style lager while his female companion seems disinterested, bored and sipping on a glass of water. José walks over to the table and presents a glass of pilsener to the woman, explaining that he is only giving her the beer so she can feel part of the scene. She doesn’t need to pay for it nor even drink it. She thanks him, admitting that she really doesn’t like beer. “But this beer is different,” he insists, then goes on to briefly explain the merits of all-malt beer with flavor and character. He leaves. Five minutes later he observes from afar that there is one inch of beer missing from the complimentary glass. Ten minutes more go by and the glass is half full. Twenty-five minutes later he returns to the table with another glass of beer, offering the same deal—“you only need to keep the beer company and no need to pay.”
The woman becomes a convert and wonders why a beer could be so different from the typical Mexican light lagers she is accustomed to disliking. The year is 2004, and José has begun his own small revolution.
José Gonzales, Tijuana Beer
José Antonio González comes from a beer family. All his life he has been surrounded by beer. His father moved from state to state, distributing and selling beer for the large Mexican breweries. José dreamed of one day having his own brewery and developing the Mexican beer drinker’s appreciation for microbrewed beer.
The beginning of his microbrew adventure took him to Germany and the Czech Republic, where he discovered the pleasure and drinkability of Czech pilseners. Experiencing the house-brewed dark lager at the Prague Brewery U Flecku, José asserts, “I would drink all day this wonderful beer. My face would feel warm. I would sleep well at night and wake up the next morning with my head feeling wonderful—and by 12 o’clock noon I wanted to drink more beer. I never had these kinds of experiences with the beer I knew in Mexico.”
On a visit to Prague, José asked a brewmaster how much corn, rice and sugar was formulated into these beers. The brewmaster explained, “Rice is for making sake. Corn is for making whiskey. Sugar is for making rum. Malt is for making beer.” José’s world was turning on edge. He had been touched by the passion for good beer. He did not know it at the time, but he was in the company of family brewers from Pilsner Urquell and Královský pivovar Krušovice (Brewery Krušovice).
Soon thereafter a Czech brewhouse, a Czech brewmaster and Czech malt, hops and yeast were on a voyage to Mexico’s northwestern coastal city of 3 million, Tijuana. In the year 2000, Cerveza Tijuana was brewing, bottling and distributing all-malt Czech-inspired pilsener (Güera) and dark lager (Morena)