Published by Leonardo Calcagno
Who are you and your current job?
My name is Jaime Riesgo, and I am founder and head Brewer of Cervezas La Virgen
What was the inspiration behind your brewery?
We got inspired by living in San Francisco, CA and tasting the local brews, we started home-brewing and fell in love not only with beer but with the brewing process.
Everyday we get inspired by people enjoying our beers, and making them happy. No matter how hard the day was, when you see someone enjoying the beer it’s worth it.
Cervezas La Virgen stands for pure, alive and fresh beer, crafted with no tricks and no hurry.
Can you give us a tour of your beer scene?
Spain has a growing beer scene, we have some great beers now and the quality is better and better. Cervezas La Virgen is the main craft brewery in Madrid, there’s around 10 other breweries in the city. In Spain there are more than 200 breweries, and a growing demand for craft beer.
10 years ago in Spain, there was a lot of people drinking beer but without the beer, culture attached to it. Things have changed and I think that we have always had the best place in the world to enjoy beer in bars and so on, now the culture for great beer is much better, and people enjoy it a lot.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a brewery?
Do it!
If someone really wants to start something they should do it. There will never be a better time than now for this. Just make sure that you are ready for all the real hard work and dreaming about your brewery.
If you just love homebrewing but you are not sure of the business side, I would suggest to keep home brewing and send me some beer if possible ;).
