Colorado Trip: A Visit To Del Norte Brewing

While there are a number of things that stand out in my mind after 10 days or so in Colorado and Virginia, including time spent with family and time spent with some cool older gentlemen from the 1930s Civilian Conservation Corps, I can say without hesitation that the beer highlight of the trip was paying a visit to Del Norte Brewing in Denver, Colorado.

For me at least Del Norte is really a nod in two directions because I live in between the place where Del Norte beer is crafted and the place that Del Norte beer is attempting to honor with their Mexican style brews.

As I prepared for my visit to Denver I scanned the map over at the Beer Mapping Project, hoping to find a suitable brewpub or brewery near my sister’s house on the west side of Denver. Only one beer venue fell within a 10-mile radius of my base of operations: Del Norte Brewing. I visited their website and dropped them an email, stating that I’d be interested in paying them a visit. I received a kind response, indicating that, while they don’t have a taproom or retail space, I’d be more than welcome to drop by the brewery for a tour and chat. The message indicated that they expected to be bottling during my visit. Thrilled, I printed the email, along with the phone numbers that were provided and packed them in my luggage.

If you don’t believe that beer folk are good folk then I’d suggest you spend a few minutes chatting with Jack Sosebee, whose Del Norte Brewing Company business card reads “Owner/Brewer.” I’d add “Beer Ambassador” to that job title, too. I called him at about 9:00 on a Sunday morning and by 10:30 I was walking into a nondescript warehouse space in a mixed use light industrial/residential area not too far from the University of Denver. Within minutes of my arrival I had a sample of Del Norte’s beer in my hand as we strolled through the compact brewing facility.

From the very start our talk was conversational, light and friendly; just two beer fans chewing the fat. No doubt my interest in beer lies more in the product than in the process, but when you’ve got someone who’s as enthusiastic about his work as Jack Sosebee seems to be, well, it’s all a package that seems to fit. (There’s a Madison Avenue jingle in there somewhere, I know it.) Jack and his business partner Joseph Fox are striving to bring back the traditional Mexican style of beer that has largely disappeared from the United States market in the last decade. I asked Jack if this exodus might be due to the rise of the locally brewed craft beer market in the U.S. and he allowed as that might be one reason while graciously admitting he’d never really thought of it in those terms. Jack pointed out that beer traveling north from Mexico typically arrives damaged, having languished on one loading dock or another for days and weeks before hitting shelves in the States. Faced with consistently poor quality imported brews, American beer drinkers may simply have turned away from those traditional Mexican style beers. Whatever the reason for the void, Del Norte Brewing seems perfectly willing to fill the niche.

I asked Jack what sets Mexican style beer apart from beers that we’re traditionally familiar with here in the U.S. If I may condense his answer into a single word, that word would be “corn.” (You won’t find this on the Wikipedia page for Beer in Mexico.) Corn is a decidedly American addition to the brewing process, making its appearance on the brewing scene in the late 1860s. Back then brewers learned that, although it was more expensive than all-malt Bavarian brewing, using corn or rice produced a lager with an attractive yellow color and favorable characteristics in body and head. The folks at Del Norte revisit this philosophy and succeed in producing beers that satisfy both the eye and the palate.

Orale, Del Norte’s Mexican style lager pours a nice golden color (bet it’s the corn) with a white head and there’s a sweet smell to it. The taste hints of grain (the corn again, I’d bet) with a mildly dry finish. It strikes me as more hoppy than, say a Budweiser and more carbonated than your run-of-the mill beers with a very slight alcohol bite to it.

Manana is Del Norte’s Mexican style amber lager and to me it smells faintly of banana bread, pouring an attractive dark tea color with a straw colored head. There’s the taste of bread in there with a hint of roasted grain and the mouth feel is heavier than the Orale.

Both Orale and Manana are terrific session beers and no doubt they would compliment a plate of enchiladas or carne asada. Of the two, I prefer Manana but that’s no doubt a reflection of my general preference for darker beers in general.

Jack is a font of Mexican-style beer knowledge and that passion translates into an unusual collecting hobby. While discussing their label design – oval, two label front and back – Jack confessed to having amassed a collection of some 900 Mexican beer labels. To me it’s proof that we should all decide what we love and work at that as much and for as long as we are able.

If our conversation was moving along smoothly, the same can’t be said for the labeling machine on the day of my visit. On the phone Jack mentioned that the line was acting up (“glitchy” was the word he used, I think) and when I arrived at the shop, nothing had changed. Indeed, as it turned out, the day’s bottling work was cancelled, with the Del Norte crew (five or so by my count) vowing to get with the manufacturer of the bottling equipment to see if a solution could be found so that bottling might resume later in the week. Through all this, Jack had a smile on his face, chatting amiably with me about Del Norte beer, craft beer, Colorado beer, Mexican beer and the vagaries of trying to make a go of it in a crowded craft beer market.

There are plans for seasonal beers in the future and Jack anticipates they’ll outgrow their current warehouse manufacturing setup sooner rather than later – even if the square footage continues to be sufficient, the capacity of their brewing equipment will need to increase to keep up with what they hope will be continued growing demand. There are plans to expand distribution outside of Colorado as well and one can only wish them all the best luck. Certainly they have the public relations skills they need, because I couldn’t have felt more welcome during my visit. If you’re in Colorado, I encourage you to visit the Del Norte Brewing website to find out where their beers are available. If you live elsewhere, as I do, then I can only suggest that you remain patient, all the while hoping that some day soon you’ll see Orale and Manana on tap, or in a retail outlet near you.

The Del Norte Brewing Crew

Mike Maynard, Sales & Distribution, Joseph Fox, Owner/Brewer, Jack Sosebee, Owner/Brewer

Update:
I dropped Jack an email and hit him with a couple of follow up questions before posting this story. Jack reports that the day after my visit, they contacted the manufacturer of the bottling machinery and got the glitch worked out. Seems the manufacturer had mis-wired one of the machines components. Joe worked the necessary fix and the Del Norte line was up and bottling the next weekend.

When asked where he thinks Del Norte Brewing will be in 5 years, Jack said he thinks they’ll be in a new facility, with a greater brewing capacity, distributing their beer not only throughout Colorado but also around the Southwest (west Texas to southern California, specifically). Jack thinks Del Norte will still be producing their flagship beers Orale and Manana, a couple of seasonal beers, and other beers that reflect the variety of beers available throughout Mexico. Jack finished his answer to this question by predicting they’ll still be having fun, and who’s going to argue with a prediction like that?

Finally, when asked about the Great American Beer Festival taking place in Denver this week, Jack said that yes, Del Norte Brewing would be there, “hoping a lot of people have a chance to enjoy our beer with us.”
That’s my hope too.