Sacramento’s Mexican community is stepping up its beer game. Here’s how and where
How could one of the best Mexican restaurants in Sacramento, run by the city’s most famous Mexican restaurateur, not have a premium Mexican beer on tap?
That’s the question Daniel Savala pondered last year during a visit to La Cosecha — one of Ernesto Delgado’s five Mexican restaurants in the region. Savala, the founder of the beer business Cervezalandia, had recently set out to address Sacramento’s lack of Mexican craft beer.
Unlike their commercial counterparts, craft beers aren’t mass produced, tend to be made with higher quality ingredients and often use traditional brewing methods. Savala wondered if Delgado, the unofficial dean of Sacramento’s Mexican culinary scene, would contribute to more Mexican representation in the craft beer space.
“True to Don Delgado’s passion and commitment to elevating the food scene here in Sacramento, he heard me out and quickly began to change that,” Savala said.
Savala ended up connecting Delgado with John Anaya, one of the few Mexican-American master brewers in the region. Together, the two men spent months working on a beer that would be worthy of Sacramento and pay homage to Mexico.
The beer, La Cosecha Dorada, features ingredients from around the world, including imported maize from Mexico and pilsner malt from Germany. The 5% ABV Mexican Lager will be Sacramento’s first Mexican craft beer made by a Mexican-American master brewer, according to Savala and Anaya.
“It’s a beer made with a lot of love,” said Anaya, who described the flavor similar to a Pacifico.
The new beer also represents yet another step in improving the city’s Mexican beer scene and increasing representation in the industry, said Savala.
Only 2.2% of the country’s nearly 10,000 breweries are Hispanic or Latino-owned, according to a 2021 survey by the Brewers Association, a trade group representing small breweries.
The region has made recent strides to improve its standing in the industry.
Savala founded Cervezalandia in August 2022. He said his Freeport Boulevard store features the largest collection of Mexican craft beer in the country. Savala also leads the annual Cervezalandia beer festival held at Cesar Chavez Plaza, which offers beers solely made by Latino and Hispanic brewers.
Coatz Brewing Co. in Old Town Elk Grove also opened in 2023. The brewery is one of the only Mexican-owned breweries in the area and uses ancient Mayan recipes to make some of its beverages.
“I truly believe that when you have diversity of opinion or flavor profiles, things are always better,” Savala said.
La Cosecha Dorada will be unveiled this Monday morning when it is canned at King Cong Brewery. The beer will be available at several of Delgado’s restaurants, King Cong Brewery, and make its big debut at the Cervezalandia beer festival on Sunday, June 9.
