Full Glass: Goose Island and Colorado make beer with SC hops and guava

The breweries Goose Island, born in Chicago, and Colorado, born in Ribeirão Preto, got together last month to make a new beer together. So far, nothing so unusual, after all, despite the fact that one is American and the other a redneck, both are part of Ambev’s portfolio.

The good news is that the hops used in the formula were grown at Fazenda Santa Catarina, in Lages (SC). The recipe, an Indian pale lager, also includes guava for a special touch, and should be available in units of Bar do Urso and Goose Island Brewhouse, in Pinheiros (western region of São Paulo), in the coming months.

Started two years ago by Ambev, the Santa Catarina Farm Project encourages the production of brewing raw materials, mainly hops, throughout the Lages region, and also seeks to benefit other farmers in the local community, all for the benefit of a complete brewing ecosystem. .

“The project proves how the collaborative work between Ambev, researchers and farmers has the strength to make Brazil a potential producer of high quality hops”, commented Laura Aguiar, master brewer and manager of knowledge and brewing culture at Ambev. “Increasingly, we want to support the Brazilian academy with technology and innovation to think about new ways of sustainable cultivation of brewing ingredients”, she adds.

Ambev promoted a festival in April to mark the first harvest of the hop flower, one of the main ingredients of beer — alongside water, malt and yeast. Four traditional American varieties of the plant were cultivated on the farm: Comet, Cascade, Chinook and Nugget.

With the exception of some small initiatives in the hop plantation — also including Serra da Mantiqueira and mountainous regions in Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul — the ingredient is totally imported, mainly from countries such as Germany, the United States, England and Czech republic.