In Vice media’s new column Nomadic Brews on their food channel Munchies, reporter/nomadic brewer Jeppe Jarnit-BjergsØ takes us to Mexico City, Mexico to explore some of the country’s flourishing craft beer scene. Great read!

Cerveceria’s Craft De Mexico

In this episode of Al-Kee-Hol, a food show hosted by Vice media’s Yuka Uchida on their newest food channel Munchies, Yuka travels to Japan to explore Tokyo’s booming craft beer scene. The 15 minute video is Definitely worth your time.

Al-Kee-Hol: Japan’s Craft Beer Scene

It’s completely understandable if you haven’t heard of BC brewing yet because well, they’re “fresh out of the womb”, so to speak. Consisting of only 2 team members, this small-batch brewing op. is as “micro” as it gets.

Charles, the mastermind behind BC brewing co., is a 24-year-old student studying at the University of Minnesota-Duluth in their brand spanking new Cultural Entrepreneurship program. The degree allows graduates to sustainably exploit innovative cultural avenues in order to create both for and non-profit startups. With a previous A.A.S degree in culinary arts from St. Paul College in St. Paul, MN, Charlie has a passion for both brewing and cooking.

I caught up with him just before his west coast spring break escapade.

Bruno: So Charles, you’re both a chef And a brewer now. Has cooking for longer than you’ve been brewing have any bearing on which you prefer?

Charles: To begin, I have to confess that ten years of work in kitchens has made me see many things from a different point of view. It’s truly a blessing and a curse at the same time. I love cooking and eating, but once you’ve eaten great food on the daily for some time, having to eat in a college cafeteria or food court between classes can feel like adding insult to injury.

I hear ya, bad food sucks! I suppose you take extra care in cooking for yourself then, eh?

Yeah, I usually spend around an hour cooking daily at home… just for one, but it is worth every second. I eat well.

That’s more than most North Americans could claim. I’m assuming the insatiability for new tastes is just something that comes with the profession?

Definitely, I enjoy learning about new things all the time. It brings joy to my life.  One such more “recent” is beer.

 Of course! I’ve been meaning to ask: How did you get into brewing?

Well i’ve always been into beer, but a few years ago my at-the-time girlfriend bought me a homebrewing kit for christmas and it kind of just snowballed from there. My first few years I brewed around 130 gallons annually… I guess you could say I was instantly hooked. I’m also lucky my day job (lake superior brewing co.) has allowed me to hone my craft into what it is today, a passion. That’s what I started BC brewing co.

Awesome. How much would you say you brew now?

I brew too much beer to reasonably consume by myself.  That being said, I have many people in my life that have no problem testing free homebrew. I find this to be mutually beneficial… i get to brew beer, and they get to drink beer.

Truer words have never been spoken my friend. So I know it’s hard to be picky as a tester but is there a flavor you’ve noticed that stands out to your homebrew drinkers? 

Yeah, so after being asked if I have any ipa enough times, which is basically every time homebrewing comes up, I decided to stop ignoring the question and just start keeping a few cases of IPA on hand.

On that note, I have been meaning to get my hands on a new (to me) hop variety called Galena that I think might rival the ipa’s i’ve been brewing.  It’s been around since 1968, and available since ‘78. I’ve been meaning to try out the dual purpose aspect of this hop so I made a single hop IPA out of it.

I do love a good IPA but now I’m looking forward to the Galena. final words?

Live long and prosper. Also, be on the lookout for my photos from the Galena batch brew day !