Cervecería Granizo: Pioneers of Barrel-Aged and Sour Beers in Chile and South America

Cerveceri­a Granizo was founded on October 31, 2011, in the city of Olmua, which is located less than an hour from Valparai­so, Chile.

The name of the brewery Granizo, which means grain, was inspired by an area of Olmua, called El Granizo. From the city, you can access the La Campana National Park, an emblematic natural reserve in central Chile, known for its high biodiversity of plants and animal species. An example of plant diversity is rosemary, which Granizo utilizes in their Indian Red Ale (IRA). It started as a replacement for the Chinook Hop, and it is now an official ingredient.

In 2016, the brewery moved to Quilpu, closer to Valparaiso

From the beginning, the brewers were pioneers in Chile with their use of oak barrels in the fermentation and maturation process of different styles of beers. This inspiration by Granizo's team came as many previously worked in wine cellars in Chile and around the world. Cerveceria Granizo reuses barrels that once housed white and red wine, Pisco, Porto, Rum and Apple Chicha, which differentiates them from other breweries. This allows them to offer a wider range of unique beers to their knowledgeable and beer savvy consumers. The use of barrels transfers a greater complexity of aromas and flavours to their beer that would not appear when using the traditional stainless steel tanks.

Thanks to their innovative approach, they have received many national and international awards, allowing them to travel the world, attending events, competitions and trade shows in several countries. Amongst them are:

• Copa Cervezas de America 2015, Best American Beer being the first and only Chilean brewery to obtain this award;
• South Beer Cup 2019, The Champions, Silver Medal, only breweries that have received gold in American cups participated;
• Copa Pura Vida Indie 2018 in Costa Rica, two Gold medals and one Silver;
• POA Beer Festival Brazil 2018, Gold Third best beer in the competition.

In 2020, Granizo was invited to one of the most important beer festivals globally: the Mikkeller Baghaven Wild Ale Celebration 2020, in Copenhagen, Denmark. The beers presented: Granispero, Infectious IRA! 2016, Sour Pisco, Quercus, Mote Chacaro and Killer Callampa. These are speciality beers with months of maturation time, barrels like Pisco and some with native ingredients like Trigo Mote. The use of the Petainer kegs played a key role when transporting their beers long distances. Petainer kegs innovative use of CO2 and O2 barrier technology prevents oxidation from occurring in the kegs, thus protecting the beer quality.

I absolutely recommend the use of Petainer Kegs, mainly for its excellent price/quality ratio, in addition to the great local support that Petainer provides.

At the local level, Petainer Kegs use has helped the brewery position itself throughout the country since it has reduced the high shipping costs. Petainer kegs weigh 10% of steel kegs, lowering transportation costs and reducing the carbon footprint. This is an essential advantage when serving a country as large and as long as Chile, where the logistics cost is critical in the beer's final value.

I would recommend Petainer 100% because they are in Chile and it's the only keg company that responds quickly and efficiently. We only need to call Petainer and they are always ready to support us.

Watch Granizo's case-study video:

https://youtu.be/pLm_F4J2gJE

You can follow Cerveceri­a Granizo at @cerveceriagranizo or at www.granizo.cl to find out more about their beers.

If you are interested in knowing more about our kegs, contact us at enquiries@petainer.com or visit our website www.petainer.com.