June 29, 2021
Seven Latino men gathered on a Hacienda Heights driveway on a warm Southern California night.
Shiny homebrewing equipment filled the garage so the fledgling craft brewers stood in the car port—pint glasses in hand—sharing names, hometowns and brewing experiences.
The SoCal Cerveceros homebrew club was born.
“We didn’t really know what it was going to be,” said Ray Ricky Rivera, one of the club’s seven founding members at that inaugural meeting on April 10, 2015.
Six years later, America’s largest Latino-based homebrew club has blossomed into a mosaic of nearly 250 diverse beer aficionados, mirroring the ethnic melting pot of its Los Angeles County stomping grounds.
Many of the Cerveceros have become prominent players in the So Cal craft beer scene, opening and operating brick and mortar breweries and spearheading commercial collaborations with popular craft breweries. This network of knowledgeable and influential brewers has established a pipeline to careers in an industry that has lacked Latinx representation.
“The Latino culture impacts the whole city,” said Sarah Flora, an award-winning homebrewer and internationally-known YouTuber. “It’s super fun to see that come out in our beer. Beer’s not an old, white man’s game anymore.”
Agustin Ruelas, now co-founder of Brewjería Company in Pico Rivera, played host at that inaugural gathering six years ago. He poured pints of early home-brewed creations he concocted in his garage with his brother, Adrian Ruelas, for his new club mates, Adrian Gonzalez, Jaime “Jimmy” Cardenas, Alfred Mayen, Richard Estrada and Rivera.
It was a breath of fresh air for Rivera, who admits he often wondered why he had never seen other Latinos at his go-to homebrew shop of Stein Fillers in Long Beach.
“Every time I went in there I was the only brown dude there,” Rivera said, noting Los Angeles County is home to more than 5 million Latinos.
With the Cerveceros, Rivera felt like he was among peers.
The group agreed to meet the third Friday of every month, sharing brewing tips, favorite beers and must-visit local breweries.
The club grew to 20 members before Zaneta Santana became the first woman to join the Cerveceros. A member of the South Central Brewing Co., Santana also works as the general manager at Angel City Brewery in Downtown LA.
Rivera, now the club’s president, said the club struggled adding female members outside of wives and girlfriends, but he was determined to create the diversity he knew was lacking.
“It wouldn’t be genuine of us to criticize the beer industry or the homebrew community if we weren’t actively working on our own diversity,” Rivera said. “Having a bigger presence of women helps us to be cognizant about creating a welcoming, supportive, safe space for all members.”
Rivera recruited on social media and created the ColdXela Homebrew Fest. The fest only allowed club members to pour beers at the event, which sparked…
