Are you going to Sprung on March 7th? If so, you want to make sure you stop by the Descarga Brewing Company booth. And not just for the amazing beer that they’ll be pouring but rather to sign up for a chance to Win FREE BEER for a Year!
And even if you don't win, you'll still walk away smiling as the brews that they’ll be pouring will include:
- Para El Sol - Session Pale Ale
- Travieso - a Saison brewed with prickly pear/cactus fruit and ginger root
- Rachetera (the sour version of "Hi-Ju-Doin") is a Belgian Wit brewed with hibiscus, juniper berries, and raspberries and soured with a Belgian sour yeast blend
- Cocotaso - Beligian Wit brewed with natural, shaved coconuts in the mash and coconut milk and pineapples in the boil. Once racked to the secondary, they dry hop it with pineapples and coconuts
- and more!
Never heard of Descarga Brewing Co? If you’ve been to a local beer festival during the last couple of years, you’ve probably had their beers. They were previously known as Opus Ales but for reasons that are becoming common in the growing craft world, they had to rebrand. There are trademark issues attached to the Opus Ales name so they figured it was better to shift gears and come up with a new name than get tied up in legal issues.
All the original members of Opus Ales are involved, Manny Jannes, Jesus Rascon and Manny Varela. They've been home brewing for over four years, but started pouring at events in 2012. Descarga is the Afro Cuban term for a jam session. Mainly in reference to music, but as Manny Jannes explained, they consider their brew sessions as actual jam sessions, because they create their recipes and award winning beers to be innovative improvisation, with ingredients and techniques that simultaneously complement each other to deliver in appearance, aroma, and taste.
Jannes shared “the decision to go commercial was one that came quite simple to us. We were getting slammed but fans on FB, and especially at events as people were asking us where they could get more of our beers, and when were we going open a location. There were plenty of articles being written about our beers, and our commercial peers were giving us high praise on the beers we were making as well, which for us that was the determining factor. Why not open a brewery? We're making beers that the people love, and our peers are asking us the same question, when? Naturally the next step is to open a brewery. “
They are diligently working on finalizing a location in Miami, near Wynwood and if everything goes according to plan (which it rarely does when it comes to brewery construction in South Florida) they hope to be open sometime in the Winter 2015 - Early Spring 2016 timeframe. They'll be starting with a 10bbl brewhouse. As growth dictates, this brewhouse will shift into a fulltime sour age program, and they'll purchase larger equipment for their conventional/non-conventional beers.
Besides a great location, the guys have some pretty cool ideas too. Jannes told us that in addition to a snifter club of some variety, they will also offer a limited number of Beer For Life Memberships. He said that they will offer only 100 of these memberships that will be good for two pints a day, for life.
When we asked about what we can expect to come out of the brewery, Manny said “Plenty of every style, but flipped on it ass, slapped around, and then adorned with love, love, and more love. But seriously, our model will be to have seasonal core, seasonal limited releases, and seasonal specialty beers. ‘Get it now, stock up on bottles and growlers because you won’t see it again until next year’. We'll surely be souring beers, lots of beers, and well also be barrel age centric, but always catering to our influences.”
“We brew styles influenced by our culture. Central America, South America, and the Caribbean. We get inspired by the music, festivals and most of all the foods of these regions. We tend to build recipes based on Belgian styles but we do not stay within the lines. No, no, we blur the lines of the base styles. This allows us to be as creative as we want without handcuffing ourselves when we're brewing.”
Check out thier website or Facebook for more info about the brewery.