SUGOI (agave blonde ale - 5% abv): water, barley malt, agave, hops, ginger, lemon grass, yeast.
We named this beer with the iconic Japanese word, Sugoi; which perfectly translates to Chido, a world amply used in Mexican slang to mean “awesome” or “incredible”. We chose this name as a tribute to the Asian influence that is now a part of Mexican every day culture. Although ginger and lemongrass are herbs that originated in Asia, they are now cultivated in Mexico and widely used as ingredients in cuisine and folk remedies. Sugoi brings together the qualities of Asian and Mexican origins to yield a surprisingly energizing and refreshing beverage worthy of its name.
The ginger provides earthy and spicy base to the beer with hints of citrus and floral notes. They are grown in Veracruz, an extremely biodiverse state mostly covered in evergreen tropical forest. It is a state with a unique cuisine representative of the many cultural influences that came via its main port since Hernan Cortez. Supplementing the typical corn and beens with flavors from the local terroir including tropical fruits, rice, sea food and herbs and spices such as hoja santa and vanilla. All flavors that are enhanced and marry heavenly and with this beer.
The lemon grass adds more layers of citrus and herbal aromas along with a slightly sweet aftertaste. It is grown in CDMX, where it is called Té Limón in reference to its folk use as a digestive tea. As with ginger, this herb that was adopted by Mexican culture for its medicinal properties and in the last decades became a part of its gastronomy with the enormous rise in popularity of Asian and Mexican-Asian cuisine.
Approximately a third of the fermentable sugars in this beer come from Agave, a plant that has shaped Mexican culture since 6,000 years ago; it can be eaten and used for clothing, construction and tools. It has since ancestral times been said that alcoholic beverages derived from agave will warm the heart and lighten the spirit. We use the sap of Maguey Pulquero from Coahuila state, which is the base ingredient in the ancestral fermented beverage called Pulque. The agave contributes a light body and herbal hints that balance the spicy zesty citrus essence of the beer.
