Episode No. 2 Episode Luis Castro
“Hi, my name is Luis and I’m from heaven! And we have liquid gold”
Here’s the second episode of FoodBrews! Co-hosts Markus and David invites Luis Castro, brewing expert, to discuss our favorite topic: beer. Originally from Colombia, he moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 2006 and then in 2010 to the Bay Area where he was inspired by the craft beer scene and decided to take his love for handcrafted beer and offer his own unique recipes in a fun community and family orientated environment. Markus, David and Luis also sample a couple of Luis’s recommendations: Wheat Beer and a Ginger Pale Ale (G-Root Pale Ale).
Transcript Episode No. 2 Luis Castro
In this episode, Markus and David interview Luis Castro and discuss his newer brewery called “Del Cielo”, which means from heaven in Spanish, and the liquid gold they produce. They produce California beers as well as spiced beers, thanks to Castro’s Colombian origin.
David and Markus want to know about more about the name so Jeremy and Luis tell them which are the reasons to name the company like that. Luis explains that his wife name is “Cielo Mar” and he wanted to include her name into his company name. Furthermore, they are really concerned about the quality of the ingredients and the precision of each production step so with the words “from heaven” they want to convey greatness and quality.
After that, they go on to talk about how different each city or state can be regarding to beer and its production method. As they say: “Each brewery has its own signature”.
Luis explains the main differences between his beers and other larger beer brands and says that it is all about playing with different ingredients, the smaller production scale and the risks he might take.
Markus: So Luis, do you remember your first beer? How was it?
Luis: Yes, I do, and it was actually not that bad.
Jeremy: I remember mine too and I have to say that it was not bad, but it was not that good either.
They moved on to discuss one of the most important aspects of beer production: sanitation. Both Jeremy and Luis agree that there are millions of bacteria that can make your beer go back in any step of the process. Therefore, the location of the brewery, the facilities and the lack of attention regarding to sanitation can destroy your priceless liquid gold.
So we reached the best part of the show, Luis is opening up a beer: ginger pale ale. As Luis explains, he started with this beer because of his wife; she wanted to have something with ginger. At this point, they discuss how difficult it is to make fruity beers because you want it to be a beer first and not overwhelm it with ginger or any other type of fruit.
After trying it, they all agree on the fact that the best way to drink this ginger pale ale is with sushi or an amazing pork belly due to its balance and smoothness.
David: It looks like Markus and I are doing something wrong. We already finished our beers and you guys have barely started.
Luis and Jeremy: We like to enjoy the beer, but it’s a good sign that you finished it already, it shows how refreshing and easy to drink this ginger ale is, so that makes us really happy (everyone laughs).
Luis introduces a new interesting topic: beer temperature. They discuss about the impact that temperature has in the beer and how important it is to maintain it in the right conditions.
David and Markus: We saw that you refer to your beer as experimental, why?
Luis: Yes, I wrote that on Instagram and that’s because the part of the process my brewery is at is about experimenting with different spices, flavors, fruits to come up with really special flavors and aromas.
Today is international IPA day so let’s open our “El Paseo” IPA.
David: How did you come up with that name?
Luis: Well…that’s the street where my house is. It actually means let’s go out for the weekend, so this is the beer you want to drink during the weekends.
After trying “El Paseo” IPA, they try to find the perfect food to drink the beer with. Whereas Luis suggests burgers and ribs and definitely does not recommend Indian food with this type of beer due to its spiciness, Jeremy recommends enjoying it with Italian food and red sauces.
David: Did you think about the process of opening up a brewery? Did you think it was going to be hard?
Luis: Yeah, I knew it would be hard, but if it were easy, everyone would do it right?
Luis: To finish this episode, I would like to tell you about the seasonal beer I prepare in my brewery. It’s called 9 to 5 and we participated in a popular contest with it like 2 weeks ago and it won the 1st place, it made us really happy. We can’t wait to open “Del Cielo” Brewery.
Thank you very much for inviting us and hope to see you at “Del Cielo Brewing Co”.
Visit Del Cielo Brewing’s website to learn more about their beer philosophy:
