It all started one day during a visit from Carolina Castro from @elviajecerveceria to our brewery, where we came up with the idea of making a beer together. 

Of course it was an honor for us since Caro, as we call her, is a talented brewer whom we love and admire very much!

Some days later, Erik and Guido from the JaguarOsa organization @jaguar.osa visited Dirigo, with the proposal to make a collaboration where we would benefit the organization by donating part of the beer sales. Jaguar Osa is a non profit organization dedicated to the conservation of Jaguars and other mammals in the area of Península de Osa in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. 

We thought it was a great idea, so we shared it with Caro and she loved it ! And so we started to plan this collaboration that is not only amazing for being made by two costarican women brewers but it also benefits this organization with such a good and positive purpose.

We were later joined by artist Troy Quesada @mevupe_troy who donated the label design which is a beautiful work of art! 

The beer is called La Jaguara, which means "female Jaguar" and you can find it starting September 2022 at Dirigo Fermentory, (bottle & draft) as well as at Cervecería El Viaje and its distribution channels.

Through a friend, we were introduced (virtually) to three magical ladies, that love fermention as muh as we do or more! They are Lauren Price, Laurent Houston and Charlotte Crott, the amazing women behind Mindscape Fermentations, a Brewery in Rockling, California where we were lucky enough to travel to meet them and brew this delicious potion together.

For this beer we traveled with packs of Costa Rican organic cacao beans that we previously roasted ourselfs with lots of love and excitment for this collaboration. 

We had the opportunity to try their amazing beers, kombuchas, hard seltzers and fermented food like kimchi, hot sauces, pickles, etc. All incredible! They also kindly shared lots of knowledge and experience with us and of course we had a lot of fun!  

It was an amazing experience and we will always be grateful for the oportunity to brew with them, and hopefully we will brew again together here in Costa Rica!

We always knew what we would brew with Los de Arriba Brewing Company , a very hoppy beer! 

Los de Arriba is a craft brewery located in our same province: Alajuela, and they love hoppy beers as much as we do. So choosig the style for our collaboration was not difficult at all. Since we both brew and love New Ingland IPAs, we decided to make a double NEIPA together and the result was an elixir!

It was a lot of fun to brew with these knowledgeable guys besides drinking their delicious beers while we were brewing. 

Collaborating and supporting other Costa Rican breweries, has always been part of our goal plus you learn, have fun and create delicious fermentations, what else could we ask for?

Thanks again to Los de Arriba Brewing for collaborating with us!