The Beerler brand was born in homage to Lerma, Cauca
(Report taken from the magazine Visión Comfacauca).
The taste for craft beer in Colombia is increasing, which is why it is the third country in Latin America to increase its consumption, after Mexico and Brazil, especially with gourmet varieties. In Popayán, a group of friends, from different professions, has been working on a project for this type of beer, under the Beerler brand, which is the union of Beerbeer in english and Lerby Lerma, municipality of Cauca, where the partners of this venture are from.
Rudy Alberto Gómez, agro-industrial engineer, who works on research projects at the University of Cauca, and one of the founders of Beerler, told Comfacauca Vision about this business initiative that arose from his trip to Mexico in 2019 to do an internship and he was invited to an internship on craft beer, a process he knew something about, but its assembly seemed complex to him. However, this time he saw that it could be manufactured without sophisticated equipment. With two of his friends, schoolmates in Lerma, he prepared some beer samples that were liked by his first testers.
Since Lerma has had so many social problems due to the illicit use of coca, they thought that it could be used to make craft beer and they developed one of the products with this leaf. The first bottles were sold to chefs who, coincidentally, were in Lerma in those days developing culinary recipes based on coca. The beer was to his liking, which further encouraged him to continue with the Beerler brewery.
In addition to malt, water, hops and yeast, traditional beer ingredients, the Beerler brand has processes, ingredients and flavors that in its three presentations: Gold, Red and Black, are different from other brands. The Dorada beer, Golden Ale style, which is refreshing, has the coca flavor as a particularity, which is a differential factor in the market, and also arouses curiosity among consumers.
Promote in Lerma
The new entrepreneurs began producing the coca-flavored Dorada beer for sale in August 2021; two months later they released the Red and at the end of that year they manufactured the Black, they did it by researching; In this practice, there was, of course, trial and error, as usually happens in any factory, until arriving at the ideal formulas.
Rudy Alberto Gómez and his partners, apart from showing coca in a different way, which they buy roasted and ground from a local supplier, also seek to promote their native Lerma, through the labels of their three products. The logo of the Dorada beer, the cocbeer, with its coca flavor, bears the Cerro de Lerma, an important symbol of that population. Similarly, the other logos and covers highlight more tourist sites. On the labels you can read the reason for the name of Lerma.
From their different professions, the 12 partners contribute work and money to move the company forward. They hope to set up the plant in Lerma in a few years, to support families through job creation. This new venture produces 200 liters of craft beer per month, in a 330-milliliter presentation, an amount that they hope to double in a short time, for which they are pending to expand the production plant in Popayán.
