Beer
Four Ducks Walk Into A Brewery
We love working with other brewers and breweries. The cross-pollination helps fuel our creativity. Plus, it’s just nice getting out of the bubble of how we think and do things, and open up to how others are operating. We’re always learning at Drake’s, and there’s no better way than to plan and execute a beer with another brewer.
This particular collaboration was a real stand-out for us. Cerveceria Dos Aves from San Miguel de Allende is one of the true quality breweries in Mexico. One of their founders, Mark Taylor, started as a homebrewer in 1999, and eventually taught a homebrewing class at Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz. One of the recipes he rebrewed and perfected was a West Coast pale ale, inspired by Sierra Nevada’s classic.
Mark’s partner at Cerveceria Dos Aves, Francisco Kameko, was born in Guatemala and raised in San Francisco, CA. He studied at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and worked as a Structural Engineer from 1995 until 2014. Francisco began homebrewing in 2006 and was a student in Mark’s homebrew class at Cabrillo. Francisco also spent some time working in San Leandro, walking distance from Drake’s Barrel House. While drinking there, he developed a taste for our 1500 Dry-Hopped Pale Ale.
Mark and Francisco started Cerveceria Dos Aves in a one-car garage in 2012. They immediately began to garner attention in Mexico’s nascent craft beer scene, winning multiple medals from the start. One of the first beers they brewed was Mark’s West Coast-style pale ale, inspired by Sierra’s Pale, but with a more updated hop character reminiscent of our 1500.
This collaboration came together after a brief social media conversation and an invitation to come by Dos Aves if I was ever in Central Mexico. After looking at their website, and some more conversation, we thought it would be fun to fold elements of their West Coast pale ale and ours, into a single fusion brew.
Fortunately for us, Mark and Francisco were traveling north last month, and stopped by to execute a mash-up of our respective pale ales. I think we accomplished it, making a beer that shares elements of both 1500 and Cerveceria Dos Aves Pale (which we were able to enjoy at the collab), but is uniquely its own thing. Cuatro Patos will be released on draft at Drake’s Barrel House on Friday, November 15. We hope you enjoy it while supplies last!
-John Gillooly, Drake’s Brewmaster
From left to right: Mark Taylor, Chris Jacobs, John Gillooly, Francisco Kameko, Zack Bassett