Maiz Azul begins with carefully and responsibly sourced native blue corn from the Meseta Purepecha in Michoacan. The people of this region, considered by many to be the origin of corn, continue to cultivate the native corn as they have for over 7000 years. Traditional “milpas”, a mixed crop plantation, are still maintained using ancestral methods. Sadly, these traditional methods are being abandoned and the need to preserve the “milpas” and the astounding food biodiversity they contain, becomes increasingly urgent. In La Bru we source our corn from the Tierra Vivente collective, which works with generational producers to gain organic certification for their “milpas” and find market opportunities in which the value of their unique product is truly recognized. The vision of this product is to positively contribute to the preservation of Michoacan’s milpas by working closely with the farmers to create sustainable market opportunities for their native corn and share its exceptional flavors with the world.
The concept was inspired by a series of conversations with members of Mexico’s Slow Food community in 2015. We began discussing how craft beer could be a vehicle for promoting awareness about Slow Food’s projects, specifically the Ark of Taste. These conversations led to the creation of the Slow Beer Mexico project, inviting craft brewers to use Mexican Ark of Taste ingredients in their beers. In 2016 the first Slow Beer competition was held and La Bru was awarded first place. In that same year Maiz Azul was presented in Slow Food’s Salone di Gusto in Turin, Italy along with innovative beers from around the world which reflect the native ingredients of their place of origin, including beers from Dogfish Head in the USA and Balladin in Italy, amongst others. Since then, Maiz Azul has continued to receive awards, taking first place in its category again in Slow Beer 2018, multiple awards in the Abierto Mexicano de Cervezas and a gold medal in Copa Cerveza MX in 2019.
