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Rincón.- Right off the bat, Alberto Camacho began brewing beer at home, with no clue that his new hobby would lead him to become a brewer outside of Puerto Rico, and even less so that the results of his work would open the doors for him to reach Rincón, where he now works as master brewer at Rincón Beer Company.

“I started making beer at home because I couldn’t afford it. I was about 24 or 25 years old, I was broke and I was Googling how to make beer. I came across this video by a guy who sells the ingredients to make beer, so I went ahead and bought from him. I waited for my mom to go to church one Sunday and there, in my mom’s kitchen, I started making beer,” Camacho recalled.

Although it started as a hobby, soon the beer made by Camacho became popular, to the point that he established his own microbrewery in Aguada. But Hurricane María left Camacho without the raw material (water) to continue his business, so he moved to New Jersey where he got a job as a brewer at Brix City Brewing. A few years later he moved back to the island, forced back by pandemic business closures.

The universe works in mysterious ways, and it was in that moment when Camacho’s path crossed with Jeremy Vélez Rosario’s, who had just bought what later became Rincón Beer Company after Hurricane María’s passage. “I’m from the west, I worked and studied in San Juan and I came back to the west to open a restaurant. I made a proposal and managed to acquire it. They (the previous owners) had the concept for the brewery, but the permission process is a bit complicated and they hadn’t succeeded in getting them,” explained the young businessman.

This is how Rincón Beer Company began, an establishment located in downtown Rincón, where visitors can enjoy good food, music, and cocktails. Its 16 taps serve house beers produced in the establishment, as well as other craft beers produced in different parts of the island. In fact, the company has six brands that are produced outside of Puerto Rico and that are distributed throughout the island.

But much more than beer is produced at Rincón Beer Company. The staff is skilled in making cocktails prepared with aromatic herbs such as mint, peppermint, rosemary and others, grown in their own garden. Both their cocktails and beers carry names that, in one way or another, are intended to highlight the history of Rincón and Puerto Rico.

For example, Rincón Beer Company produces the Sandy Block brand, which is a direct reference to Rincón’s Sandy Beach, while one of the cocktails is called La Llamarada, in reference to the eponymous novel by author Enrique Laguerre, which portrays the drama of the sugar cane plantation in the first decades of the last century. La Llamarada is a cocktail composed of Ron Barrilito, Ron Santana, an orange liqueur prepared on site, almond and lime syrup, and served aflame.

Also, every summer, Rincón Beer Company launches a drink in order to contribute to a cause or organization. Last year, the company launched the summer beer Patinetera, to contribute to the development of skateboarding on the island, while this year they plan to launch a beer that alludes to environmental and conservation causes.