The Beer Company San Miguel

Each night since I arrived in San Miguel I've laid in bed before going to sleep thinking of names to call the brewery I want to create. Ranging from historical references like Allende to the quirkiness of Roof Dog I continue to be eluded as I chase ideas that will lead to the perfect title. Maybe cardenal?Eventually I fall into a fitful sleep only to wake in the morning with a blank slate for a brain. Nada. My solution to this vacuum of inspiration? Go sample some beers with friends.

Cardenal image by SusanDorf.com

  We're living within walking distance of the 'Ancha', the main road that leads into San Miguel and the street where The Beer Company, a specialty beer bar, is located. Across from the Instituto and a couple doors down from a car repair place where a dog sleeps in the greasy doorway The Beer Company is easy to miss. It occupies a small niche in the ancient adobe that lines the cobbled street and because San Miguel is a world heritage site the sign above the door is cut out of discrete metal as not to detract from the Spanish colonial architecture. Inside its dark and cool, a pleasant spot to take some time out of searching for the future beer school/nano-brewery site and thinking of names, to have a few beers with the owner of The Beer Co., Antonio.

Antonio with his wife Liz

I brought down a couple beers from the States to share, beers that Antonio can't get here including a Knee Deep IIIPA, and a DogFishHead Punkin ale. He offered up a Canadian import called La Stout from Ghosttown Brewing out of Montreal that was brewed with absinthe. An unusual but very delicious beer. We followed that with a Mexican beer called Medusa brewed by 7mares which was anything but delicious. I'm not sure how to describe the odd flavors of this beer other than distasteful like old vegetables, nice label though. I finished this session with a Golden ale brewed by Belgoo and was very pleased with it's crisp, refined Belgian qualities. This is a 7.5% amber ale brewed with spelt. While enjoying the beers I helped Antonio get the co2 hooked up to his new single tap kegerator and we discussed bringing in a larger cooler in order to provide additional taps for the beers Francisco and I will be brewing in the future.

Stout with absinthe

Belgoo amber with spelt

The Beer Company would be a great venue to launch some new craft beer on draft. You don't see a lot of draft beer in Mexico, just bottles so this unique delivery system may lead to increased sales. At least that's the idea that Antonio and I agreed on. Naturally the beer would have to be pretty good too. Aside from Antonio's place I've got leads to a couple other restaurants that want to serve homebrewed/craft beers. So it begins. If you have an idea of an awsome name for a nano-brewery in the state of Guanajuato, leave a comment and we'll add it to the mix. Cheers!