EPISODE S.7, E.8 Un Poco Gay – Pride on Tap

Justine Johnson (00:00)
Welcome back to the BrewDeck podcast where we talk all things brewing, distilling, and everything that makes this industry

Cait Schut (00:06)
If you’re a longtime listener, you’re gonna notice a few new faces or voices here on the podcast. Our sales team is busy, busy out in the market visiting with their customers. ⁓ and so the marketing team is taking over.

Adri Richey (00:19)
So with that said, we’re so excited to officially introduce ourselves. I’m Adri.

Justine Johnson (00:23)
I’m Justine, or known as JJ.

Cait Schut (00:25)
And I’m Cait and we’ll be your host for the next chapter of the Brewdack

Justine Johnson (00:29)
Don’t worry though, the sales team who has been keeping this podcast afloat for many years are still gonna be joining as guests over the next few episodes because they’re just gonna be out in the market enjoying our customers and chatting with them and bringing them on when when we can.

Adri Richey (00:44)
And of course our goal hasn’t changed. We want this podcast to be a place where we can share ideas, tell great stories, and celebrate the people behind the drinks we all love.

Cait Schut (00:53)
So whether you’re brewing your next flagship beer or you’re experimenting with something new or you’re enjoying a pint while you listen, we are so glad that you’re here.

Justine Johnson (01:02)
So let’s get into today’s episode.

Adri Richey (01:04)
Welcome to the BrewDeck Deck Podcast. My name is Adri Richey and I am so excited to be hosting this episode because it is June and it’s it’s Pride. And to keep the tradition, so for the past five or six years, this podcast has been featuring every June.

Dennis Ramey (01:16)
Be Pride

Adri Richey (01:25)
A brewery that celebrates diversity, that celebrates ⁓ welcoming people. So, to keep the tradition, we are here today with Dennis and Osvaldo. They are the co-owners of El Suenito Brewing. Thank you so much for being here. Before we dive in into the beer and your story, I want to talk about the brewery for people who haven’t been here, who haven’t visited El Suenito.

Osbaldo Hernandez (01:40)
Thank you for

Adri Richey (01:53)
How would you describe the brewery in one minute?

Dennis Ramey (01:56)
That’s a good question. ⁓ we focus on, you know, obviously I think one thing that makes us unique is we have the restaurant component tied to the brewery. And that’s how we got our start was through free large tamales. we started as just a little 10 by 10 tent ⁓ breweries and farmers markets, and we’ve grown very organically over the years. And when we opened the brewery location here, we’re three years old. ⁓ the brewery is here in Bellingham, you know, we do a little bit of every beer style. I like to have a really diverse tap list.

Little a beer for everyone, whether it’s sometha a crisp lager or something hoppy or a dark beer. and I like to really tie in some of the flavors in the kitchen as well. Things that you would find on our menu and tying them into the flavors of the beer. So you can find very traditional beer styles as well as some things that are a little bit more fun and a little bit more unique flavors that you don’t often see in the tap list. Nope.

Osbaldo Hernandez (02:46)
We were just meeting with a potential wholesale buyer yesterday and w one then one theme that came up was that we’re a brewery that’s we’d like to tell a story. ⁓ when we opened the brewery in Bellingham we were one of fourteen, I believe, in in three years ago, and a one out of three hundred in Washington and one out of ten thousand in the whole country. And we’re like, Okay, it’s another brewery making more IPAs. How do we how do we stand out? And I think it’s about the story that we’re telling it telling.

The the story we’re telling through the cans, the the the story we’re telling through the beer names, the story we’re telling through who we are, ⁓ being a a a gay owned, ⁓ Mexican immigrant owned brewery is in itself unique. And we’re not hoping people pop in just because of the identity. I think it’s important to support ⁓ minority owned businesses, but we I think we we like to give a little bit more intentionality behind

⁓ what we’re making and we I’m I can say echa co echa con orgullo ⁓ because it is made our our stuff our beer our food is made with pride and it tells a little bit of a story behind each of those cans, each of that beer, each of our our food. Like the food comes from my family’s ⁓ cooking ⁓ traditions and then ⁓ the beer is we we make the product we like to make but they would like to think that it’s a good product.

Now we also want to make sure we we make few folks feel comfortable here by letting them know our story so they feel connected and that they see themselves in this space. Because beer, craft beer can be intimidating, especially to folks that are are not used to being around craft beer, femmes, queers, bipack folks that are not very common in in craft beer spaces. So we’re like, let’s make it more approachable and more comfortable.

Adri Richey (04:35)
⁓ while suenito because in Spanish el sueñito can be a little nap or el suenito can be a little dream. So can you please tell me why el sueñito?

Osbaldo Hernandez (04:48)
A little nap.

Dennis Ramey (04:52)
That’s cute. ⁓ yeah, we we named it for the little dream for because this has been a passion project and a little dream of ours since we started making tamales almost 11 years ago now. I’ve always had a passion for craft beer. Both of us have had a passion for craft beer. I’ve always since college I started homebrewing and have I would always talk to ⁓ my buddy when we’d be homebrewing. Like, how fun would that be to someday

own a brewery and like get to do that for a living. Ten years later we were looking how to grow the business and what the next steps would be and actually add a brewery component to the business. And that’s where El Suenito came from. And it’s really a culmination of this little spark and little just having beers and talking about how fun it would be to one day have a brewery and that dream actually becoming a reality.

Osbaldo Hernandez (05:45)
And it took us a long time to land on that name. We went through a lot of ideas for names and finally landed on a Spanish name intentionally because we while we knew the <unk> was going to be difficult for folks to pronounce and it is and a lot of folks miss it when they’re typing an email. ⁓ we wanted to stand out and we’re like, Okay, that’s gonna be another way that we’re gonna be like it we’re not, you know, after a mountain or a a valley or ⁓ Yeah. So let’s choose a Spanish name and we finally

We were watching T V and they’re like what about this? And then they’re like, Okay, that takes over everything else we’ve come up before.

Adri Richey (06:19)
Talking about Spanish. Okay. Pair your website. It says you are an interracial queer couple with a passion for craft beer and Mexican cuisine. I’m sold. That’s it. Like that’s it. Okay, but first, first, let me ask you, Osvaldo, you’re from Mexico. I am from Mexico too. So what part from Mexico are you?

Osbaldo Hernandez (06:39)
I was born in actual Puerto Vallarta, but grew up in a very small town outside.

Adri Richey (06:43)
What brought you to Seattle? Did you just one day say I love Seattle?

Osbaldo Hernandez (06:47)
No. ⁓ my dad has been in the US, actually in eastern Washington where a lot of the hops are grown. ⁓ working in the farms as a farm worker since nineteen mid nineteen eighties. And ⁓ he left the farm work fe he left the farm the field to go work in restaurants in the Seattle Bellevue area. And we he wanted to come unit reunite the family and ⁓ brought us over to the US to

Because he because he was often absent for two to five years at a time. And so we were growing a away a grew we were growing older without him and he he didn’t like that.

Adri Richey (07:24)
How do you guys meet?

Dennis Ramey (07:25)
Yeah, we met online. He was coincidentally living across the street when before beer I was working in pediatric cancer research. And so I was working at Sale Children’s Hospital at their research institute in downtown Seattle and he lived a block away and so we would show up on each other’s apps and started chatting and met for coffee.

Osbaldo Hernandez (07:45)
I think you’re supposed to say we met at church, but okay, that’s fine. But yeah, that’s how we met. ⁓ go ahead, sorry. What was the rest of the question?

Adri Richey (07:51)
There’s a lot of breweries right now. What kind of brewery did you not want to build? What is the type of brewery that you didn’t want to build? We know what you guys have, but what is like what made you open this because something you didn’t like in other breweries?

Osbaldo Hernandez (08:07)
We have a lot of great beer here in Bellingham. We are among some amazing giants. I don’t think we never we ever said like I don’t wanna be like them or like that. I think it’s more about what can we add, ⁓ that we can or like to add our own flavor. Like sometimes I go to a restaurant and I I order my our our one of our favorite pastas is ⁓ just a bolonesse, right? And

This is amazing, but I’m like, how can I how can I add my own twist to it? So now I myself add red pep like red paper flakes and extra garlic. The pasta I ordered at the restaurant wasn’t bad, it was delicious. But now I added my own flavor to it. So I think that’s how we perceive ourselves in the industry is not not wanting to be like the rest, but it’s more than yeah. How do how do we add our own identity to this? And so that is making sure that our space is

Queer friendly and welcoming, ⁓ that we’re like doing the walk and not just the talk, right? It’s really easy to hang a queer flag like we do here. ⁓ but we ⁓ we go a little bit beyond and just doing the talk. and I’m not saying that other breweries just do the talk. We just wanted to make sure that we were h holding ourselves accountable to what we said we were going to do and and be for our community. And ⁓ I think we’re

We hear from folks often that they they love this space. I mean, I’ll give you two stories that kinda brought me to tears. One, we were so exhausted opening weekend, for this location. I mean, we had a line all around the corner for hours and it was raining. This is in the mirror of middle of February. And this Latina woman came up to me and and she’s like, Thank you. I have never been to a brewery

where like the the beer names are in Spanish where like I can I felt seen and I felt welcomed and that like put me into s a few tears. And then na about a year ago I was sitting and like to work from the top room and I was sitting here behind where I’m currently sitting and there’s this pretty in their sixties, two older women and I could tell that they were prob likely a couple. And

They kept looking at me and they kept looking at me and and before they left they said, I give you the owner, right? And I was like, Yeah, yeah. She’s like, you know, thirty years ago when we were growing up, when we were in our twenties, thirties, we didn’t have spaces like this. And so we really love coming here. They drive from Ana Cortes over because they feel that this didn’t exist when they were growing up and they like that it it exists today. So those are the the reasons that ⁓

that show us okay we we’re doing a good job in actually doing the the walk and not just the talk. And that’s the the flavor that I’m telling you about. It’s not that we don’t want to be like others. It’s just how do we you know mm make it our I represent ourselves in what we like.

Adri Richey (11:01)
Is there a beer that tells your story?

Dennis Ramey (11:05)
I think my immediate answer would be ⁓ poco gay. ⁓ that’s our our seasonal. We release it every year since we opened it’s our our one of our pride beers. ⁓ was up until this year our only pride beer. And then this year we added Hoochie Daddy shorts as our our second pride beer. But I just love the can so much it’s a hazy IPA and it’s just vibrant rainbow colors and has, you know, our logo is a wolf. ⁓

And the moon and so the wolf is just very prominent on the label. And I think it just speaks a lot to the name of the beer is kind of a funny story. When we were opening there was news just like AI generated ⁓ two sentences about this new brewery opening in Bellingham. And it was just kind of

Poorly edited, like no punctuation, and so it was a just said a small gay brewery opening in Bellingham and so A little A Little Gay Brewer. We were always joking that like, we’re the we’re the new little gay brewery, and so we named the pride beer and poco gay. But then we thought it was one like, you know, as as a brand, we’re very outward about our identity and who we are and standing up for queer rights and the queer community. This is who we are, like pride colors.

I just love how how eye catching it is in that way.

Adri Richey (12:25)
Talking

about the artwork, I’m so glad that you transitioned to that topic because for the people listening out there who cannot see the cans, Dennis, I want you to describe me this beer. Please do. Tell me the name and what do what what do you see?

Osbaldo Hernandez (12:42)
Yeah.

Dennis Ramey (12:43)
This is our Hoochie Daddy shorts. It’s our newest tried beer. It’s a rice lager. You can s yeah. So the artwork is it’s a man in a tank top and a crop a cropped tank top with hanging clothes on a clothesline wearing probably four inch inseam shorts, maybe shorter. and it’s a fun piece of art. It’s a rice.

Adri Richey (12:50)
Driving artwork?

⁓ Is

there is there a reason why you chose rice lager and then the name and the camp?

Dennis Ramey (13:17)
Think for I think for the artwork, the no no intentional connection I think because we have for our other pride beer is a hazy IPA. We wanted something you know, a lot of our beer styles tend to be on the lighter side. you know, in the four and a half to five and a half percent range. I think our flag champ night shift is the highest A B V beer we make with the exception of ⁓ Imperial stat we did for Dio de los Muertos last year. ⁓

And that’s seven percent. Most of our beers in that four and a half and five and a half percent range. And a lot of that is just intentional because we want to be a space for people to gather and for community and people to be comfortable hanging out for three or four beers. And I think that’s just you know, I like to focus a lot more on sessionable beers that you could have a few of and still go about the rest of your day and not feel like you’re you’re toasted by the end of it. But and I think the artwork just

You know, being in Hoochie Daddy shorts and a crop top and being out on the lawn hanging clothes, it’s kinda like it just feels summery, it feels light. And so I feel like what beer would this man be drinking while he’s going about his day in like, ⁓ something very light. Rice lager. rice lager is perfect for it. So it just kinda fit in.

Osbaldo Hernandez (14:32)
It will say that in the original piece had no shirt on and the person’s butt was bigger and we we told our graphic designer to or the artist to design to put on a shirt for it and make that little the butt a little smaller to make sure we were family friendly.

Adri Richey (14:48)
More inclusive for kids.

Dennis Ramey (14:51)
It’s still pretty caked up, but the original was even more so.

Adri Richey (14:56)
Talking about ingredients, ⁓ are there any ingredients or brewing techniques inspired by your heritage or inspired by like the the

Dennis Ramey (15:06)
A a lot of our seasonal beers, I like to pull in, you know, flavors from the kitchen. we have a beer on tap right now, Signorita Margarita, which is a hibiscus lime goza. ⁓ and so we used fresh hibiscus or jamaica flour. We used ⁓ fresh squeezed limes. Yeah. With the flavors that we use, you know, right now we have on tap also a collab that we did with Aslan Brung that’s called fermentata, that’s a tapache inspired.

Osbaldo Hernandez (15:22)
Tresh squeeze line squeeze them all by hand, two hundred of them.

Dennis Ramey (15:35)
beer. So it has it has pineapple, it has actual tapache in it. We like to definitely pull in a lot of the the ingredients and cuisine of Mexico and tie that into the beers.

Osbaldo Hernandez (15:47)
We do expand with some flavours, but like the brewing I mean, you’re part German and we love Germany, we love visiting as much as we can. The the German beers you do brew, you’ll make sure you you’re following as much as you are able to their the German technique around there. ⁓ so it’s like it’s a di you know, it’s a diverse background in where each of us come from and then also stick trying to stick to like the true authentic intention behind the beer style.

Dennis Ramey (16:13)
I think a little bit going back to that community and sessionability of our beers, I feel like loggers really fit into that very, very nicely. Whenever we go to a new brewery, the first beer that I get if I want to get a sense of of their beers is always a light lager, because that’s really where you learn more about their, you know, their process controls and their cleaning and ’cause if if anything is off, it’s gonna show up in a light beer.

I think a little bit of all those categories coming through like I want to show that like our the quality of our beer through having really clean, light lagers. You know, I I still love myself an IPA. But I think that lagers are just a little bit more difficult to find prevalently. And we didn’t want to fall into the category of just being another brewery that made just you know had a tap list that was fifty percent IPAs. Like we really wanted to show the spread of of craft beer. We have our El Brehis Mexican lager that’s

A light loger that’s on year round. We have our Conejo Azteca dark Mexican loger. So those are two flagships that are always on tap. and then I like to just spread out the rest of the tap list with kinda you know, other beer styles so there’s a little bit of something for everyone.

Adri Richey (17:21)
Well, I think we already know each other very well, so now let’s get deep. Okay, what it’s like to be LGBTQ in the brewing industry? ⁓

Osbaldo Hernandez (17:32)
Goodness,

can sometimes be a little lonely because there aren’t many around. ⁓ we’ve attended the craft brewers conference around the country. We’ve gone to that one in Minnesota, in Nashville, Las Vegas. And it can be it can feel a little lonely sometimes being a queer owned space and also just Latino. There are not a lot of Latino-owned brewers. I know Portland has a gorgeous ⁓ brujos, right? ⁓ and then

I know that ⁓ I know stupid squeewn, ⁓ and ⁓ my god. Robin. Rob, thank you. ⁓ but so it can be a little lonely. However, mm being in the Northwest, I think we create we’re sort of in a bubble when it comes to appreciation for queer folk and queer community, ⁓ and it’s a vibrant queer community spaces outside of the industry and people are very welcoming. We’ve not really experienced a lot of hate.

against the business or the entity or ourselves. We sometimes I mean everywa once in a while we’ll get a a nasty email about repenting and before going to hell. But we kinda we kinda love it. We ⁓ we thrive on those hate males. but no, it’s it it’s an I think it’s an opportunity, like I think it goes back to the conversation with more than one conversation that we’ve had, like the conversation I had with a lesbian older couple.

that it’s it’s a it’s very rewarding when ⁓ those things happen because it kinda reminds you why we are doing this. I don’t think anyone in the right mind usually opens a business. it is a a lot of work and often little reward, but those moments are part of the of the little gifts you get to take home. ⁓ so yeah, it can be a little money, but it can it also often more often than not is rewarding and and fun.

hear queer folks, especially young queer folks say like thank you for making this space or we feel we feel comfortable coming here or seeing it on Reddit, like go here ’cause it’s very queer friendly. yeah.

Dennis Ramey (19:40)
Think you touched on a lot of the the same sentiments. I mean, we’ve had a lot of conversations around what it’s like being a a queer owned brewery and it’s it is, as you said, kinda lonely in the sense of not a lot of peers, but they are out there and it’s fun finding each other and like having that commonality and that that sense of community. And then just also seeing I mean the when we opened the Bellingham beer community was

incredibly supportive and the Seattle beer community was incredibly supportive and ⁓ you know very excited about us coming in and bringing our unique brand and everything into town and I think that’s one thing that I really like about the beer industry in general is it’s not competitive in the way that a lot of other industries are. And like well at the end of the day it is in the sense of like we’re selling a similar product

People have much more of a perception that the the rising tide lifts all boats kind of analogy, that the more vibrant and unique and all the different breweries that bring their own unique spin makes the community as a whole better and the industry as a whole better. And I think like I love that that

When we announced reopening it wasn’t like, we’ve already got fourteen other breweries in in Bellingham, like you’re gonna take away from our customers. It was like everyone was excited and like, let’s do collaborations. Lex, how can we partner together? So it’s been incredibly welcoming. And I think going back to the, you know, when we opened, one thing that we were really intentional about wanting to do was be a community space and uplift. U use our

platform and use our space to uplift the queer community. And I think we’ve had some really cool and unique opportunities to do that through, you know, we’ll host ⁓ you know, queer meetups where people could just other people into, you know, in the Pacific North Northwest, it’s tough to meet new people, right? And especially people that that share your identity. And so we’re able to use our space to allow people to come together and meet other queer folks and new friends. And we host

It pride markets with queer owned businesses and, you know, our monthly drag shows. And so it’s it’s been fun to grow in a way that we’re able to use our space to really support and uplift the queer community. And then just seeing the way that folks respond to that and show up in force is you know, especially in these times where there’s a lot of hate being focused on the queer community. And sorry. ⁓ it’s really cool seeing such a

strong outpouring of support for what we’re doing and just really energizes us to keep keep doing that and, you know, stand for what we believe in.

Adri Richey (22:25)
You guys are starting something new and I hope people who are listening right now and if they want to start not only a brewery, anything, anything that supports diversity, anything that supports ⁓ unity, welcoming, especially nowadays, like you guys are an inspiration for everyone. And I mean, the brewery is one thing, the grape beer is another thing, but your story and ⁓ everything that you’re bringing to the brewery industry is just it’s amazing.

Osbaldo Hernandez (22:52)
I I think th now that you say that, I think one thing that it reminds me of is what we have a regular that I don’t I should block, but I don’t block them because I enjoy getting their hate mail. ⁓ they will say like stick to making food and making beer, like don’t be political. Everybody knows that food in in the industry is n cannot not be political. The the the farmers the pick the the the the the

the malt and the hops and our vegetables we use in our in our tacos or whatever we’re cooking. There’s a lot of farm labor that’s powered by immigrants. and we I don’t when you going back to your question, like who do we not want to be like? And thinking just in general, I don’t want to be ⁓ and non-empathetic to what is happening. And I think we you have to be political

⁓ you have to speak up and you say what does it mean to be able to be TQA? ⁓ you have to be you have to s it’s not just be passive. You have to be aggressive. I’m gonna tell you what I stand for and what we believe in and what we’re gonna create here. And if it makes you uncomfortable, like that’s fine. You don’t you should go find there’s a lot of spaces that you probably will feel comfortable if this is not one of them for you. I do think that it’s important to ⁓ tell people to

⁓ go to support places that know that everything is political.

Adri Richey (24:22)
What advice would you give another brewer who wants to start a new brewery? What advice would you give to them?

Dennis Ramey (24:32)
⁓ Is it bad that that’s the immediate thing that came to my mind? I mean aside from the obviously be prepared for long days, I mean twenty-four hour days and you know, all the upfront work and sleepless nights and anxiety and everything. I think, you know, once once you get through that, it is really I th I always go back to

idea that brewing is such a unique and beautiful industry and and craft beer that there really is a s it is a ⁓ so unique to have an industry that brings people together in the ways that craft beer does. And you know it’s one of the the oldest traditions to go have a beer with to to meet new people or to to build community and the industry itself

has such a way of businesses banding together and standing for what they believe in. You know, one of the recent collaborations that we hosted, we did no hate, no fear collab that was ⁓ a beer to support immigrant rights in the face of ice and everything happened that in Minnesota and around the country. And you know, it was so cool seeing all the breweries that just were so eager to

jump on and show support and raise money for ⁓ for the immigrant community and it really is a beautiful industry to be a part of. So aside from all the hard work and and sleepless nights getting to that point, like it is also the opportunity to put your identity into a very beautiful industry and create something beautiful.

Adri Richey (26:22)
⁓ we always ask this question at the end to all our guests. What is your favorite drink? Doesn’t have to be beer or it can be beer, but what is your favorite drink? After reading a hate mail, what is your favorite drink? Tequila.

Osbaldo Hernandez (26:35)
I you know, I think that it I have seasonal favorite drinks. So I I’ll give you three. ⁓ a log a Mexican lager. I can be a modelo, it can be Victoria, and if we have ours, then I’ll drink ours, but I’m lager in the summer and then I will do an April Spritz in the summer and then in the darker winter months in the northwest I’ll do an old fashioned with good cherries.

Dennis Ramey (26:36)
my

Cherries make or break it. Yeah. Being a brewer, I am gonna give a beer answer. I think for a nostalgic perspective, I’m gonna say Manny’s pail from Georgetown, because that was the beer that got me into craft beer. ⁓ I used to I went to school at University of Washington and so I’d go over to the college inn with friends after class and we’d get a picture of Manny’s and play pool. And so it just has such a special place in my heart. So that’s definitely that. And then

For a cocktail’s perspective, I’ll say a mezcal margarita.

Adri Richey (27:39)
Yes. Before we go, the podcast has some housekeeping and I want your help. You’re gonna read the first and you’re gonna read the second one, okay?

Osbaldo Hernandez (27:50)
Thinking Beyond Beer, Explore THC and CBD Beverages. Through our new partnership with Perfectly Dose, brewers and distillers now have access to THC and CBD emulsions designed for non-alcoholic functional beverages. It’s an easy way to explore one of the industry’s fastest growing categories. I didn’t know that.

Dennis Ramey (28:13)
Hop harvest is approaching, which means we’re making room for the incoming crop. Save on all crop year 2024 hops through August 31st. Buy five boxes and save 10%, 10 boxes for 15%, or 20 plus boxes for 20%. Use promo code HOPSTOCKUP.

Adri Richey (28:30)
Thank you guys so much. I really enjoyed this conversation. It was so insightful and so inspiring. I learned so much from you. Thank you.

Dennis Ramey (28:37)
Thank you so much for having

Osbaldo Hernandez (28:38)
Yeah.

Dennis Ramey (28:39)
me.