Puerto Rico: Microbreweries gaining ground in Puerto Rico

With a variety of styles and flavors, the presence of local craft beers has been seen more and more since 2010 when the first microbreweries were established in Puerto Rico, whose industry now numbers about twenty around the island, The Weekly Journal reported on April 6.

“When craft beer started arriving here in the early 2000s, there was an initial rush to try the beers. Then it went down a bit because people did not adapt very well to them. However, over the last few years, people have adapted and learned, especially young people who are jumping right into craft beer,” said William “Ricky” Quintana, content creator for the RickyCraftBier Instagram page dedicated to educate about craft beer from Puerto Rico.

Since the page began in 2019, it has developed a map that identifies microbreweries in towns of Puerto Rico, in which it currently presents 22 of those already established. By region, two are in the eastern area, seven in the north, seven in the west and three in the central area.

Quintana also highlighted that there are currently more than 100 establishments, including bars, restaurants and convenience stores that sell craft beers, whose prices fluctuate from $4 to $14.

“If you look at the history of the United States where there has been a boom, it all started when homebrewing became legal and from there, the craft beer hype went up and grown every year,” explained Quintana, whose legalization became official in 1979.

“It is very important that people get excited about making beer at home because it is like the experimental laboratory to then make beer at a commercial level, and even if you do not have plans to make beer, it is a way to learn,” he said.

This was the case for the brewery ‘Brew, Taller Experimental’ for the Dragon Stone Abbey brand in Río Grande, whose owners began brewing beers from their home.

“We started in 2012, in what is known as homebrewers. My husband took it up as a hobby, within the community there are competitions and in 2014 one of his recipes won first place in the people’s choice award,” said Sandra Rodríguez, co-owner of the Brewery.

She explained that they have been brewing their beers for approximately eight to ten years, and they began to produce them through the rental of the FOK Brewing Company facilities, and it was not until 2019 that they formally established their brewery.

Rodríguez indicated they are currently working on 20 recipes, including seasonal recipes, and distribute their barreled product to 40 clients, such as bars and restaurants.

Among the pioneers in the industry, Boquerón Brewing Co. was the third establishment to receive a license to produce beers on the island in 2011, followed by ‘Cervecera de Puerto Rico’ in 1937 and Old Harbor in 2010.

Its founder, Juan Carlos Torres, explained that one of the challenges for microbreweries in Puerto Rico is the operational and export costs of ingredients.

“The cost of brewing beer in Puerto Rico is extremely high due to energy and water costs. Water is the most important thing in beer and electricity because that is cooked. These are two complicated factors for us, it is expensive in Puerto Rico. In addition, the raw material comes from the United States and transporting that in small quantities is a turnover,” said Torres.

He explained that in 2019, the Craft Beer Manufacturers Association (AFCAPR, for its Spanish acronym) achieved through Project 280, that those who produce less than 400,000 gallons of beer in a year pay 95 cents per gallon in taxes, when they originally paid $2.55 per gallon.

“There is still room for improvement, but it is not a very viable business. Many people do it as a second income because the vast majority of those of us who have breweries in Puerto Rico have other businesses,” he said.

The same is the case of Reina Mora Brewing Co., which was established in 2019 and encountered the challenges of the pandemic.

“Even though we established it as a business, we started running it as a hobby because we both dedicated ourselves to our private businesses, so at that time we took a break and then we started to see how thing developed and to make outings more flexible and so on. We saw an opportunity in curbside pickup and delivery. We bought a canning machine and since businesses were not open it was our option, so in August 2020 we started selling that way,” said Carlos Ayala, co-founder of the brewery.

However, he indicated that the interest from the consumer and the boom in the market led them to invest in the business and increase their production from a one-barrel system to a four-barrel system in 2022.

“That is aimed at the fact that there has been an increase in interest. If I take it back to when I made beer at home, at that time it was very difficult to even find a place that served you draft beer, much less artisanal, but now it is more common,” he said.

Another brewery that has experienced the economic changes has been Boxlab Brewing Co. who despite the challenges, also agrees that there has been growth in the industry since they began in 2014.

“Ever since María (hurricane), it has been a challenge to stay alive and operating, but at the same time, these are the years where more breweries have been born and the challenge has been good for us, in a certain way,” said René Pérez, co-founder of the brewery in Aguadilla.

Regarding his opinion of the growth in the industry, he indicated that they do not see it as competition, “but as an opportunity to continue expanding the market and increasingly offer a greater variety of beers, more brands, more perspectives, in addition to expanding beer tourism in Puerto Rico, since there are many people who take make a beer route,” he said.

Other younger brewers have distinguished themselves by daring to enter the market, despite economic challenges, such as Papa Rupe Brewing Co. established in 2020.

“We opened at zero percent customer capacity, delivering out the door on May 20, 2020. We faced all the changes of inflation and we never knew what business was like in a normal world. The business model had to evolve over time with all the government restrictions and the world as we know it now. That has been the great challenge, not to be left behind and face the constant changes in prices,” said Luis G. Rodríguez, founder of the brewery established in Ponce.

To questions about how the reception has been in the southern area, he indicated that it has been a process of educating the client about what craft beer is and how to taste it.

“Perhaps in the metropolitan area, which is San Juan, Bayamon and Carolina, people already know what craft beer is. In the south, there is not the same traffic that the metropolitan area has had in previous years, but in our case, it has been to educate people. People hear the word artisan and quickly associate it with a strong flavor. Craft, it is not necessarily a flavor profile, it is not a flavor, but rather the way it was made, not how it tastes, and there is a craft beer for everyone,” Rodríguez explained.

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