The Costa Rica News (TCRN) – Great success and growth has taken place for the craft beer brewing industry in Costa Rica. This is obvious through data received from other craft beer festivals that have taken place in the country.
For the first example in 2012, only 350 tickets were sold and 500 people were left out of the event. In the second, participation increased to 750 entries. For a 2014 event, 1,100 tickets were sold, and the fairgrounds eventually hosted a total of 3,000 people that came.
The distribution companies are unable to cope with the new beer demand that’s growing faster than they can keep up with. Several are incorporated; among these are Costa Rica Craft, The Brotherhood, and Treintaycinco Meadery, to name a few. However, there are many others in the process of legalization as well as many bars or “pubs” that offer their own beer onsite, such as Volcano Brewing and Bribri Springs.
Costa Rica Craft pioneered the craft beer market, which was founded by Americans, was the first in Costa Rica and Central America. It was created in 2010, but it was not until January 2011 that they began to market their beers. They currently produce 13,000 liters of beer per month but since this does not meet the demand of their customers, they are moving to Cartago to work with their clients that are currently on the waiting list. They handle about 250 outlets in Costa Rica. They believe that the craft brew industry in Costa Rica is in a time of change, so they prefer to be cautious about the future growth of the company.
Treintaycinco Meadery is another craft brewery that entered the market in 2012. Founded by three partners, friends told them they were crazy for wanting to do a brewery. Thus the name treintaycinco was born, which is code for “crazy” on police radios. They have grown exponentially, from a production of 200 liters per month to its current capacity of 10,000 liters per month.
Ignacio Castro, one of the founders, recalls that one of the greatest difficulties was when they had to legalize their company since they began it two years prior as a hobby. However current permitting demanded that they have grease traps.
“Where do we need to put the beer ‘fat’,” Castro asked the government representative, to which he responded, “That’s what the rules say,” because of the regulations applied to restaurants.
Unlike Costa Rica Craft which focuses on two beers, treintaycinco maintains 10 beers in permanent production.
“Demand is going faster than us. We are in a good moment and craft beer is in vogue,” Castro said. They plan to move to a larger factory in which they hope to eventually produce 2 million liters annually. However this is a medium-term plan, knowing that to achieve this need years of hard work.”
For those that want to try their hand at beer crafting, classes are available throughout the country. (Crhoy)
