Latin-inspired ales put Monrovia microbrewery on the map
2014-08-25 19:35:55
MONROVIA – When Pacific Plate Brewing Co.’s brewmaster Stephen Kooshian thinks back to the first beer he ever made, he can’t stop laughing.
“My roommates were complaining about the smell,” the Los Angeles resident recalled. A 5-gallon pot of concentrated barley syrup had been fermenting on the stove for a month in his UCLA apartment, his first attempt at cloning Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.
The temperature control was less than desirable, but he persisted. Fifty bottles of beer and one party later, the experiment was a success: His friends had finished the homemade batch in one night and wanted more.
Now, as a co-owner of the smallest brewery in Los Angeles County, Kooshian, 27, spends most of his waking hours thinking up new recipes to try.
With friends and business partners Jonathan Parada, 29, and Steven Cardenas, 28, Kooshian opened Pacific Plate Brewing Co. at 1999 S. Myrtle Ave. last year. The small business is one of only three Latino-owned breweries in the U.S.
The trio have put the Monrovia microbrewery on the map with their original Latin-inspired ales – ranging from a Nicaraguan horchata stout adapted from a family recipe to mango- and flan de leche-flavored beers.
Pacific Plate will throw a one-year anniversary party Saturday in its tiny space and debut what is being referred to only as “a big strong beer” for the occasion. A vendor fair and vintage car show are part of the festivities, which start at 2 p.m. and run till closing time at 10 p.m.
The brewers credit their business’s focus on heritage flavors as the reason for their success.
“We’ve been drinking craft beer from all over the world, and we noticed all the stuff coming from the regions our families are from – Nicaragua, Guatemala, Mexico – were all German lagers: Tecate, Corona, very similar styles,” said Parada, who discovered his love for home-brewed beer through Kooshian when they worked together at
Legalzoom.com after graduation.
“Here in Los Angeles, we have such a huge untapped market in the Latin American community that would love to have these unique flavors in a beer. It’s a perfect opportunity and something we’re passionate about,” said Parada, a USC alum and Los Angeles resident.
Social media also played its part in getting the word out. Parada and Kooshian had about 500 Facebook followers attending their beer-tasting parties before their company was founded.
After raising money themselves and recruiting family and friends as investors, the entrepreneurs attracted the attention of Mike Lanzarotta, a commercial real estate broker for Pasadena-based Nai Capital who specializes in finding space for craft breweries. Lanzarotta helped the trio set up shop in a Monrovia industrial park and spread the word to his own network of craft beer aficionados.
“The first day we opened, we had a line out the door and around the block,” Kooshian recalled.
Since then, Pacific Plate Brewing Co. has produced 31 beers, some of which are regular brews on tap at local restaurants. Among those is the Copa de Oro, a traditional Belgian-style golden ale with coriander and fresh orange zest.
Others were a one-barrel affair that nevertheless developed a cult following. The Flan de Leche is an amber-colored ale with copious amounts of caramel malt and milk sugar. Fans still ask when the creamy full-bodied beer will be brewed again.
Kooshian, who has a bachelor’s in history, enjoys consulting the historical record of beer around the world to place new twists on old recipes, such as a cardamom-ginger saison he crafted. Worried it was too outlandish, he discovered cardamom had been used in beer in England 500 years ago.
Some parents might be concerned if their son announced he would quit a well-paying job to make beer full-time. But Parada said his family surprised him.
“My grandmother, whose maiden name is Hoisler, was overjoyed because it turns out that five generations back, our family were German immigrants to Guatemala and owned one of only two breweries in the country, circa 1895,” Parada said.
Unfortunately, according to family lore, the rival Castillo brothers’ operation won the national lottery three times in a row, using state funds to undercut Parada’s family business and buy them out. To this day, the Castillo brewery survives as Cerveceria Centro Americana, selling its Famosa and Gallo beer worldwide.
Today, however, Kooshian, Los Angeles resident Cardenas – who Kooshian met at Pasadena City College – and Parada seem to be doing just fine. Pacific Plate is on track to expand from its current one-barrel system to a 10-barrel operation and soon will begin developing its first lager.
The brewery also is working on a beer with a philanthropic mission: sending Latino kids to college.
Partnering with USC’s Latin American fraternity Sigma Delta Alpha, Pacific Plate will develop a new beer, and $1 from every pint will be donated to the fraternity’s scholarship fund for Latin American high schoolers.
Pacific Plate Brewing Co. has plenty of projects on the horizon, but the team has even more ideas.
“I’d love to do a craft soda or a cool ‘root beer,’ since we’re a family establishment and people bring their kids to dinner here,” Parada said.
“It’s fun and part of the whole spirit of craft brewing: making something by hand with real natural ingredients.”
Contact the writer: ahernandez@losangelesregister.com
If you know of anybody who needs help finding space for a brewery in the Los Angeles or Orange County, please let me know.
mlanzarotta@naicapital.com 626 826 5586
