It seems like a miracle. Of the Aridane Valley, the area most damaged by the eruption of the La Palma volcano, a new craft beer has emerged. It is Nitrate Beer, a name in honor of the "Nitrate from Chile".
Compost was king in the last century. It is more, in Santa Cruz de La Palma one of the few billboards remain. They came to the island from Chile ships loaded with this natural fertilizer. A compost made up of sodium nitrate that nourished the banana trees.
Nitrato beer, La Palma's new craft beer
The craft beer factory Race is the only one that elaborates craft beer in the Aridane Valley. He prepares both his own beers and those for other brands. The striking thing is that he took out Nitrate Beer in the week of September 13 of this year. The same week of the eruption of the volcano. A first edition of 3.000 bottles with the black silhouette of a rider on horseback on a yellow background on its label. No one could have imagined that on the 19th the Cumbre Vieja volcano would enter eruption. But the rider kept galloping.
From the Gara brewery, in Los Llanos de Aridane, you can see the volcano perfectly, as it is only 6 kilometers away in a straight line. In a few hours the brewery was one kilometer from the exclusion zone. "The gases and ashes prevented working normally," says Orlando Vargas, in front of Gara. Despite everything, "we continue to manufacture, although instead of nine tanks we work with three." The water of La Palma, famous for its aquifers, is the "Only soft of the Canary Islands”And is still the great advantage of the island for the production of beers such as Gara, "Princess of the water", according to aboriginal mythology.
Nitrate Beer is a top fermented blonde. "It is having a great acceptance and the image has liked a lot," says Vargas. So much so that they have decided to give it continuity and already have beer ready in the tanks to take out in the next few days. 6.000 bottles. Their labels this time will bear the slogan "Hold on Beautiful." That is what we all want, that the clappers and its magnificent products hold on.
Writes: Monica Uriel, Journalist
