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By Erick Martell (*)
Jesús Briseño is the Mexican entrepreneur who founded Cerveza Minerva in 2004 in Guadalajara, one of the leading brands in Mexico’s craft beer industry. His name is linked to the early days of the Mexican Craft Brewers Association (ACERMEX), created in 2007, and in 2020 he was a partner in the beer bar and shop chain El Depósito.
In December 2023, Grupo Cielito Lindo bought Cerveza Minerva’s brands, recipes and equipment, as reported by El Informador and Milenio. Since then Minerva beer has been brewed by Cervecería Cielito Lindo.
The company Briseño founded stopped brewing and carried on importing foreign brands, a business it had run since 2006. This interview dates from October 2020, when Minerva was still his.
His story is tied to the beginnings of homebrewing in Mexico, between 1992 and 1998. He then studied at what was then the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago and interned at Goose Island Brewery between 1998 and 1999 and at Santa Fe Beer Factory between 2000 and 2001.
Jesús Briseño’s Beginnings in Beer
How and when did your love of beer begin?
It was when I was in high school. I went on a bike trip around Europe and got to know the original styles, and that is when I really started enjoying beer.
Later, at university, I also got into brewing, so the hobby kept growing. I went to study at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago, and that is where the dream of doing it professionally was born.
At first, did you ever think you could make a living in the world of beer?
After 2 or 3 years as a homebrewer I started to dream that there was potential to do it commercially.
Besides brewing, have you started other beer-related projects?
Yes, several, the specialty bars and shops “El Depósito”; also, about 8 years ago, we set up what was called Taller Minerva in Guadalajara, a place for brewing classes where we sold brewing supplies and had a small “Brewmagic” system that we later moved to the brewery; we have also been importing Erdinger, Delirium and Fullers beers for many years now, and so on.
Do you have any professional training, or how did you learn to brew?
I took the 4-month “Professional Brewers certificate course” at the Siebel Institute of Technology, and afterwards I spent a month as an intern at Goose Island Brewery, which was independent at the time and is now part of InBev.
What is your favorite style, and what are the 3 best beers you have tasted?
The truth is I do not have one, I think there is a style for every occasion. As for the best beers I have tasted, I could not name any in particular either, because there is a whole world of them.
That said, I could say that the ones I prefer to drink are the more citrusy beers, and the trend of not overhopping but using hops more for aroma and flavor than for bitterness.
What do you think about beerfluencers and beer geeks?
I think they are good. I could say that when Minerva started, and this was very new territory in Mexico, they helped us a lot to promote beer culture, but later those same people turned against Minerva, because it was the one that grew.
Maybe it was one of the first brands or styles they tried from the craft world, and from there they jumped to more extreme ones. Hops were very addictive back then, so people only wanted double IPA, triple IPA, and well, in the end we kept some of those beer geeks for life.
However, we believe that today they do not help the beer market much, because to the ordinary consumer the “beergeek” can come across as very conceited and arrogant and can push a new consumer away from the world of beer rather than bring them closer. I think that in the end they need to be very friendly and shed that almost mystical aura around them if we want this market to grow.
What He Looks for in a Beer and His View of the Industry
What are the main qualities you look for in a beer, regardless of style?
I think the main thing is that it is well made. Personally, what I value most is a beer’s acidity. I believe low pH is the backbone of any drink, wine, beer, soda, so a beer with good acidity has a good backbone, and from there you look for balance.
It should have good malt sweetness, balanced by good bitterness, so that neither stands out over the other thanks to a good equilibrium, but let’s say the important thing is acidity, and I should clarify that I do not mean sour-style beers, but regular beers.
What do you recommend to people who review beers, whether or not they are professionals (BJCP, Cicerone)?
What I suggest is that rather than becoming snobbish and conceited, they use friendlier language that is closer to the general consumer. If we want new consumers to come to the craft segment, we have to be friendly and present the world of beer in an attractive, fun and approachable way.
Is it true that the beer industry is very close-knit?
I think we are very united on matters behind closed doors, such as industry practices, suppliers, knowledge, etc. Out front, which is basically commercial practices, we are not so united anymore.
In the end I think that, like any other industry, we are competing for a small pie, and although we do try to be as ethical as possible and avoid unfair practices, in the end everyone is chasing their own market.
What we do try to do, at least at Minerva, is never speak badly of the competition, quite the opposite, always speak well of them, even though we are often attacked by the competition, which we hear about through customers who tell us that many craft brewers speak badly of Minerva, saying we are no longer craft, that we are too big.
Even so, it has always been my philosophy and Minerva’s to speak well of the competition, because by throwing dirt at each other we are not going to grow this market and, on the contrary, we will make it smaller. It is united on some points and not so much on others.
What do you suggest to someone who is passionate about beer and wants to start a beer business?
Right now it is a very difficult time to get in, I think there is too much supply and little demand, especially in terms of channels, and supermarkets are constantly cutting labels, unlike 8 years ago.
I would tell them that if they are going to venture into the world of beer, they should do it with the big pie in mind, that is, not for the geeks but for those who do not know about beer, with friendlier styles and friendlier marketing.
Books and Role Models Recommended by Jesús Briseño
What are the best beer books you recommend?
Kunze, the brewer’s bible that everyone should have (Technology Brewing and Malting), and there is also a very good book, Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels, from the Brewers Association, which taught me a lot about balance in a recipe.
Which figure in the beer world do you admire, and why?
The pioneers of the brewing industry such as Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada or Jim Koch, because although they were among the first, when the market was still very new and growing was not so hard, things later got a bit complicated for them when the beer industry became extremely local, and just as some small brewers sometimes criticize Minerva, in the United States there was a lot of criticism from local brewers toward national ones such as Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams.
I admire them because they never sold out to the big commercial breweries when those tried to buy them, and also because they managed to keep their customer base, and far from waging war on local brewers, they managed to unite the industry while staying strong and not criticizing, and that is how they achieved a 14% market share, compared with Mexico, where the share is .001%. I believe that if we are more united, we can all expand this pie together.
(*) Erick Martell is a Certified-rank BJCP judge and holds the Cicerone Certified Beer Server certification. He completed Siebel Institute’s Concise Course in Brewing Technology and currently works as an academic advisor at @escuelacervecera. You can find him on Facebook and Instagram.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
1. Who Is Jesús Briseño?
Jesús Briseño is the Mexican entrepreneur who founded Cerveza Minerva in Guadalajara in 2004, after several years as a homebrewer and after studying at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago. He was also a partner in the beer bar and shop chain El Depósito.
2. Who Owns Cerveza Minerva?
Since December 2023, Minerva’s brands, recipes and equipment have belonged to Grupo Cielito Lindo, which brews it through Cervecería Cielito Lindo. The original company, Cerveza Minerva S.A. de C.V., is now dedicated to importing foreign brands.
3. When and Where Was Cerveza Minerva Founded?
Cerveza Minerva was founded in 2004 in Guadalajara, Jalisco, by Jesús Briseño. As he explains in this interview, craft beer was an almost untapped market in Mexico in those years.
4. What Is El Depósito?
El Depósito is a Mexican chain of beer bars and specialty beer shops, with locations in Guadalajara and Mexico City. Briseño mentions it in the interview as one of his projects outside brewing.
5. Which Books Does Jesús Briseño Recommend for Learning to Brew?
He recommends Technology Brewing and Malting by Wolfgang Kunze, which he considers the brewer’s bible, and Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels, published by the Brewers Association. He says the latter taught him a lot about balance in a recipe.
Recommended
- Interview with Alejandro Magallanes, co-founder of Cervecería Loba and president of ACERMEX
- Interview with Luis Larios, co-founder of Cervecería Fauna in Baja California
