Beer Diary...

I was invited by friend and fellow Mexican homebrewer Barry to go on a little road trip the other day. A 90 mile excursion north to the 'Valley of the Kings' near the city of San Luis Potosi located in the Free and Sovereign State of San Luis Potosi . Our goal? Cheap but delicious mezcal. Grinding wheel Barry drove us North East for most of the ninety miles through the wide open spaces of the high desert. Vast expanses of beautiful Mexican countryside flew past us as he swerved around the slow moving farm tractors and autobuses until we reach a rugged unpaved road off the highway leading us to the mescaleria slash dairy farm. A couple of farm hands (possibly armed guards) removed the padlock from the chained gate allowing us to enter. They didn't question our motives, our thirst for alcohol obviously evident on our parched faces. Doors to the good stuff Another couple hundred yards of driveway and we came to an adobe building as old as th...

If I'm able to follow through on my plans to spend more time in Mexico teaching brewing, I'm going to need to start collecting equipment. After comparing the prices for shipping from the States compared to having a brew system fabricated here it's a no-brainer, I'll make it here. Brewing in Santa Cruz I normally use a three tiered, gravity fed system for my personal brewing and also when I teach the all-grain method so I decided that a duplicate of that system would work equally as well here in San Miguel. I contracted a local herrero (iron worker/welder) Alfredo Moreno to fabricate the brew sculpture. It's identical to the one that Scott A. made for me while I was living in Washington. Alfredo quoted me a price of 1,850 pesos which is the equivalent of $130 usd. That seemed like a pretty good deal, in fact a great deal compared to what I'd pay in S.C. so I told him to start building. Oh yeah, that cost includes delivery! Brew sculpture diagram I t...

Cerveceria Calavera is another stand out micro brewery in Mexico. From the many beers I've tasted down here, there are only a handful of breweries that rise to the top of my list in regards to a consistently good selection of styles. Calavera ranks in my top three, following closely behind my favorite, La Chingoneria who produce my all time best "Armargator". Calavera comes in next with their take on a Belgian Tripel and then Tijuana Brewing with their 'Guera'.  However, I have to say that I take exception with Tijuana Brewing because of their proximity to San Diego and the obvious influence of the So. California beer scene. Calavera Smoky Scottish Ale Today, I revisiting Calavera by trying out a glass of the Smoky Scottish Ale 80/- down at Cafe Mesa Grande. I've never been a big fan of the Scottish style as it tends to be too sweet and cloying for my tastes but if the Mexican brewers are trying to make it, I want to sample their take on the style. ...

On this years trip to San Miguel I only brought a few vital brewing ingredients including a couple pounds of specialty grain, 3/4 pound of hops and a few dry yeast packets. For the bulk of my base malts I was relying on one of the relatively new homebrew stores down here that sell on-line, in this case Fermentando out of Mexico City(?). It was easy using my Pay-Pal account and I received my order within a few days or ordering. I was very pleased and would highly recommend them. They also seem to have the largest selection of ingredients and equipment and an easy to navigate website that has an English option. The following are the three beers I brewed. In each case I used a single infusion mash in a plastic bucket at approximately 150f. for 60 minutes and because the water here is moderate to hard I included 5 gallons of bottled water along with the tap water to achieve a beginning boil volume of 7 gallons. I also used an ice bath to chill each to 65f. b...

Brewer/owner Jorgé Torales New friend and homebrewer Antonio (owner of The Beer Company) and I took a road trip this past Sunday to look in on a microbrewery in nearby Queretero to see how a small Mexican brewery operates and maybe taste a few small batch samples. As we reached our destination, we were not sure if it was the right place. We were parked in front of what appeared to be an abandoned building in a questionable neighborhood. The front had a couple of rusted and padlocked roll-up doors covered in grafitti. But as we looked around and considered the odds of getting caught up in a knife fight with a roving street gang, our host arrived. Jorgé Torales is probably the youngest professional brewer I've ever met. Thin and energetic he comes across as unassuming, but passionate about brewing. He and his brother who have been brewing for close to ten years, own and operate the smallest brewery I've ever come across. Toro (a play off his name, Torales) brewing or Cervec...