It’s a beautiful thing when men come together to make beer. And at Baguio Craft Brewery, beautiful things happen.
Just a stone’s throw away from the former Chaparral along Marcos Highway (a bar whose name is whispered reverentially by those who grew their pinks parts in the ‘80s), you can swill lagers and ales that are the beer-children of Chris Ordas (president or, as his business card states, “Chief Executioner”) and his partners Alexander Basa, Edmark Bustos, Orando Tenorio, Jr., Arnold Miguel and Francis Blanco (whose business card says “Freelance Sperm Donor.” Really. I didn’t comprehend the amount of multi-tasking that happens at a craft brewery).
During a visit to their Tasting Room, Chris explained to me how boredom begets brewing, the beauty of strawberry beer, and why you won’t get a craft beer belly.
PHILIPPINE STAR: We all have aspirations in life. Some aspire for world domination. Some aspire for spiritual enlightenment. And some — God bless them — aspire to make craft beer. When did you decide to pursue this higher calling, Chris?
CHRIS ORDAS: When I lived in Canada, I was pretty much bored during the weekends, so I started learning how to brew beer out of my garage. So when I would visit the Philippines on holiday, I noticed that there was a great food and music scene, but there wasn’t much choice in the way of beers. I’ve had a chance to travel and taste a lot of the “real beers” out there. On top of that, I have also studied the German and West Coast style of brewing. And since craft brewing exploded in the States — there are about 4,500 breweries over there — I decided it was about time to bring more beer choices to the Philippines by putting up my own brewery.
How did the brew-mance begin with all your other partners becoming involved in the craft brewery?
That’s the funny part. These guys weren’t really beer drinkers, they were beer converts. When I put up the Brewery, I hadn’t lived in Baguio for the past 20 years. So when I put up the brewery, lagi nalang sila tumatambay ditto. (Laughs) They started helping me out with new ideas about beer and with sourcing ingredients. Since they were passionate as well in their respective fields (Francis runs Canto at Ketchup Community while Edmark owns popular Baguio pizzeria Amare la Cucina) and were interested about the Brewery, they eventually became part of the group as well.
Beer is such a great social and business lubricant.
(Dirty Old Man [DOM] representative: I should try it out sometime.)
I guess the best part of your job must be quality control?
We do that every morning, actually! We have to make sure that (the beer) is top quality.
(DOM representative: That is my dream job, doing quality control for a craft brewery. Next to doing quality control for KTVs.)
That’s the beauty of craft brewing, there’s no limit (to what you can create)! It’s all about creative thinking (which is the expertise of Francis and Edmark).
What goes into this creative process of making craft beers? You drink to get more creative, and to get more creative you drink?
It’s really all about feel.
(DOM representative: Whom do you get to feel?)
I compare creating craft beers to (eating good food). If I taste a particular ingredient (that I like) in food, I try to incorporate that ingredient (in the beer). You can brew anything under the sun as long as there is sugar in it.
Krispy Kreme beer, here I come!
That is, without deviating from what beer is all about! Craft brewing is really about the use of three ingredients: malted barley and wheat — ingredients from where you get your sugar — and hops, which provides the bitterness. Hops is also a natural antiseptic and preservative.
That is why I drink beer. For health reasons.
(DOM representative: That is why I drink beer. For preservation reasons.)
At least 80 percent of those ingredients should go into your beer. You shouldn’t bastardize (your beer) by adding chemicals, extenders, stabilizers or preservatives. Everything in our brewery is natural.
(DOM representative: It’s a good thing you’re not a KTV.)
Being creative with craft beers means using this “purity law” while being able to incorporate ingredients like local fruits. The beers we create reflect the Filipino palate, so they are a little bit sweeter. Right now, we’ve created about 42 varieties of beers with at least 16 of those beers rotating on the tap.
If only we had as many choices for presidentiables as we had for craft beer. So what have been your more interesting Baguio-based concoctions?
I would say the Zigzagger. It was a challenge incorporating Sagada orange peel into the beer because the peels had to be sun-dried and were slightly bitter to the taste. We weren’t sure how that beer would turn out. We also had Smoked Kiniing. “Kiniing” is the Cordillera term for smoked meat. There was no “smoked flavoring” in the brew, but we had a smoked malt. Another challenge was Niyog stout, which was made with real coconut. Then we had the white stout. You see, there’s no such thing as a white stout because stouts are dark beers. So we made a white stout from ube.
Ube beer? Now, that’s the real Baguio experience! Are you brewing up some kulangot beer, too?
(Laughs) No kulangot beer, but since Baguio has always been associated with fruits — especially strawberry — we decided to create beers that use our local fruits. It is challenging to make fruit beers because there are seasonal fruits that might already be sour by the time it gets to the brewery. So we have to either purée or sun-dry the fruits that we use to flavor the beer. Our four regular fruit beers include kiwi, passion fruit, raspberry and, of course, strawberry.
So if I drink all four beers at the same time, then it’ll be like having a fruit salad in my mouth? Um, sorry, I think my jokes are falling flat because of the alcohol. Just how much kick is there in these craft beers?
We’ve got a blackboard in the Brewery that indicates the alcohol content. The first column on the board is the ABV (Alcohol by Volume) and the second column is the IBV (International Bittering Unit). For the customers who are looking for a higher alcohol content, they check the boards and order the beer with the highest ABV on tap. But when we are given a chance to recommend (a beer), we always recommend the lighter ones first and have them work their way up to the more bitter ones to open up their palate.
So, the bitter, the better eh? We know where we’ll find Alden Richards in case #AlDub doesn’t work out. With all the quality control work that you guys have done, I’m sure you can tell me what’s the best way to get over a hangover.
With craft beers, you won’t get hangovers. That’s guaranteed! Unlike some commercial breweries, we don’t use stabilizers and preservatives to stabilize our alcohol. (It’s from those chemicals) where you get the hangover. In a craft brewery, we don’t pasteurize or filter our beers. Our natural preservative is the hops.
Rock and roll to the world. After chugging down all these brews, aren’t you worried that you’ll develop a craft beer belly?
That happens because when some people drink beer, they eat it together with pulutan. After drinking, these people don’t engage in physical activity. If there’s no physical activity, then why blame it on the beer? Yes, beer has carbohydrates, but one glass of beer has fewer calories than one glass of orange or apple juice.
Looks like I have a new breakfast drink.
That’s what the Europeans do. Beer is like liquid bread for them! What gives you the beer belly is the lack of activity and what you eat. Look at me (points to the absence of a craft beer belly). I don’t exercise and I drink beer every day!
That’s the kind of exercise regimen I want.
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For comments, suggestions or a breakfast drink, email Ledesma.rj@gmail.com or visist www.rjledesma.com. Follow @rjled on Twitter and @rjled610 on Instagram.
Check out Baguio Craft Brewery at www.xavierbier.com