SouthNorte Beer on Tap
By Ed Avis
Sabor a Mi Grill in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. has a menu full of Mexican delicacies, such as Huesos de Tuetano (bone marrow with spicy peanut sauce) and Tacos de Chicharron con Carne. With a menu that carefully designed, it’s no surprise that owner Elizabeth Hart serves Latin-themed craft beer from local breweries.
Among the beers Hart offers are Hibiscus Beer from I&I Brewing in Chino, Calif.; Pomona Queen from Last Name Brewing in Upland, Calif.; and Mango IPA from Hamilton Family Brewing in Rancho Cucamonga.
“They sell very well because the flavors are a perfect match to my Mexican menu,” Hart says. “We always offer craft beer because the profit is a little bigger and as soon as people try them, they keep on ordering them.”
Hart is not alone. In a growing number of communities, Latin restaurants can find locally brewed beer with a Latin twist.
“If you look at what’s happening across the country, you see the second generation Mexican population growing and more people are looking for those flavors,” says Brandon Richards, CEO of SouthNorte, a craft brewer in San Diego that specializes in Latin-themed beer. “You’re seeing more Mexican flavors in general across all categories, whether it’s spirits and beverages or food.”
Southern California
Southern California contains a motherlode of Latin-themed craft brewers.
SouthNorte, founded in 2016, features the efforts of head brewer Ryan Brooks, who previously was the head brewer at Coronado Brewing, a craft brewer in Coronado, Calif.
“Ryan also used to brew in Mexico and is still very involved with the Mexican craft breweries,” Richards says. “He was brewing some innovative beers like Mexican lagers, using some American ingredients but also following the Mexican style. They were so good and well received that we just knew it was something we had to.”
Richards says that Si Señor, a Mexican style lager, is their best seller. Second is Agavamente, which includes hints of agua de Jamaica. “It’s a pink, strong lager, very interesting looking,” he says.
SouthNorte beers, which regularly win medals at craft beer competitions, are available only in San Diego now, but the company is expanding throughout California and hopes to eventually reach other prime Mexican-American areas such as Texas and Chicago, Richards reports. Their beers are distributed by Crest Beverage.
Xteca is another San Diego-based craft brewer that serves up a Latin-themed beer.
Xteca Mexican Lager
“We were sitting around one day and thinking about the craft breweries in San Diego -- we have over 150 breweries here – and realized there’s nothing in our lane of flavor, nothing that really fits with Mexican food like carne asada and tacos,” says Xavier Soriano, one of the company founders, better known as “Xavier the X-Man” because of his day job as a DJ on a local station.
So Soriano and his partners, Fred Sotelo and Mario Lopez, shared that idea with Sotelo’s nephew, Carlos Appel, a brewer.
“We told Carlos we want it to taste this way – light, refreshing, delicious, and most important we want it to complement Mexican food,” Soriano says. “So we came with this formula and after a few batches we got it right.”
The result is Xteca, which they describe as a Mexican-American lager. “We say that because it’s made like a traditional Mexican lager but made here in the U.S.,” Soriano explains. “We’re embracing our Mexican-American heritage and really making it part of the beer.”
The men made their first batches in Appel’s garage, and then found a contract brewer to make the beer to their specifications. They self-distribute Xteca, and it’s available in several cities in California.
“We do everything in-house,” Soriano says. “We get in the van and drive around and talk to the restaurant owners.”
One of those restaurant owners is Jorge Sanchez, owner of Chacho’s Restaurant in San Jose. He’s a big fan of Xteca and praises the company’s grass-roots marketing efforts.
“Xteca is a great beer,” Sanchez says. “But unless you have folks in the market introducing your beer – like Xavier the X-Man does – your beer doesn’t get pushed.”
Other Areas
The Latin-themed beer movement doesn’t exist only in Southern California, of course.
5 Rabbit Cerveceria, located outside of Chicago in Bedford Park, was founded in 2009 by Costa Rica native Andres Araya. The brewery’s philosophy is expressed in this statement on its web site: “The vast and delicious cuisines of Central and South America hold a treasure trove of flavors, aromas and textures, much of which feels right at home in a well-made beer. We combine these ingredients and ideas with our own experiences to make subtle and deeply delicious beers, not mere novelty items.”
5 Rabbit adds ingredients such as piloncillo and chiles anchos to their beers to invoke the Latin flavors. They often brew beers in series, each with a theme. For example, the Fives are designed specifically to pair with food and Las Chingonas are what they call “bad-ass” beers.
5 Rabbit beers are primarily sold in the Chicago area.
In Miami, Latin restaurants can order beer from Veza Sur Brewing Co., founded in 2017
Veza Sur Brewery
by Max Antonio Burger, Asborjn Gerlach and Marshall Hendrickson.
“We all have pretty different backgrounds, but came together over our passion for brewing good beer and our deep roots in Latin America,” Hendrickson says. “We started Veza Sur as a way to celebrate Latin America's influence on Miami through quality beer.”
The company uses Latin American fruits, vegetables and spices – and sometimes even Latin American liquor barrels – to impart their beers with the Latin twist.
“Staples at the brewery include the Mangolandia, a Mango Blonde Ale, the Spanglish Latin Lager, and the Arroz Con Mango which is a strong ale,” Hendrickson says. “We add other beers based on seasonal flavors and major cultural events. For example, we just created a beer called La Picante, made by the women of the brewery, in honor of Equal Pay Day.”
Veza Sur beers are available as far north as Orlando and as far south as Key West, Hendrickson says.
Ed Avis is the publisher of el Restaurante. Reach him at edavis@restmex.com
Editor's Note: We just scraped the surface of Latin-themed local craft brews in this article. Do you serve those types of beers in your restaurant? Or do you brew them? Please let us know by emailing edavis@restmex.com. We will feature others we learn about in future articles!