Many brewers say they are passionate, but few things prove it as much as the actions of Raul Deju. As the part-owner of a brewery in Baja California’s Valle de Guadalupe, he would drive from Vista to Cerveceria Guadalupe nearly every weekend to brew. He did this for three years and, while it earned him a strong and loyal following in the Valle, it was hell on body, mind, vehicle and wallet. Nowadays, his 15 years of brewing experience are put to use at Guadalupe Brewery (5674 El Camino Real, Suite D, Carlsbad).
Located in the Carlsbad Gateway Center, Guadalupe is a component of Raul and his wife Lisa’s homebrew shop, Carlsbad Brew Supply. Open since November of last year, the Dejus built CBS to fill a void between Mother Earth Brew Co.’s homebrew shop in Vista and faraway Home Brew Mart in Linda Vista. Adding a brewery component was always a part of the business plan, and it happened this April.
Raul enjoys fostering peoples’ love of homebrewing, but also enjoys having so many ingredients readily at his disposal. He and Lisa are both foodies, and Raul loves incorporating edibles into his beers. At Cerveceria Guadalupe, he used local honey in his Belgian golden strong ale, Mexican chocolate in his stout and pink peppercorns from a local vineyard for a rye peppercorn saison. Similar methodologies are at work in his Carlsbad brewhouse (which is currently in flux with new brewing equipment en route).
A cream ale dubbed El Vainillo is brewed with vanilla and has become a favorite among chefs, including world-renowned Baja toque Javier Plascencia, who has the beer on at his recently opened Little Italy restaurant, Bracero Cocina de Raiz (it’s also available at both of Harney Sushi’s locations). Russian House is a Belgian-style imperial stout brewed with Mexican chocolate, as is a version briefly aged in tequila barrels called Russian House Añejo. Another barrel-aged Guadalupe beer is Wild Reserve, another Belgian-style golden strong ale inoculated with wild yeast harvested from a Mexican winery then aged in a Petit Syrah wine barrel. That brew took second place at this year’s California State Fair Commercial Craft Brew Competition.
Currently, customers interested in sampling Guadalupe Brewery beers sign up for private tastings via a list that helps the Dejus keep track of the beers they’ve tasted over the long-term. Back on the homebrew shop side, CBS offers introductory brewing classes and is developing curriculums for higher-level subject matter. Additionally, Raul aims to keep one “homebrew-style” beer on tap at all times to give recreational fermentationists an idea of how their beers will turn out using items purchased at CBS.