Brewing Change in the Land of Grapes — Chachingo Craft Beer in Mendoza, Argentina

To most ears, “Mendoza” conjures snowy Andean peaks, high-elevation vineyards, and oceans of Malbec. Its name is imbued with a wildness, as well as indulgence. Here, everything revolves around grapes: 70% of Argentina’s top vintages are produced in this central-western province, which is roughly the size of Illinois. 

So how—and why—would anyone set up and run a brewery in one of the most famous wine regions in South America?

I’ve traveled a long way to find out. Though Mendoza is due west of Buenos Aires, its capital, Mendoza City, is closer to Santiago, Chile. I had to fly 650 miles, then drive through autumnal vineyards and olive groves at 3,215 feet above sea level, to reach the tiny village of Chachingo—so famously small, it’s become a local byword for “the boonies.” 

My destination is Chachingo Craft Beer, a highlight among the region’s independent breweries. Upon arrival, I expect to wander in for an introductory tour, so I’m surprised to find myself breaking up Capiscum frutescens under the South American winter sky, alongside two of Chachingo’s four owners, agronomist Oscar Laguna and former cab driver Mariano Aldunate. The peppers—all 22 pounds of green and red malaguetas, a fruity local variety of chili—are needed for a Black IPA, and this is an all-hands-on-deck situation.

Luis Olguin, the hot sauce purveyor who dropped off the chilis, cautions me against poking a spicy finger in my eye, or anywhere else for that matter. Together, the four of us rip through the task before tipping the buckets into the kettle.

HULK OUT

Since its 2017 inception, Chachingo has rapidly outgrown its furnishings, like Hulk bursting out of his clothes. The miniscule, 430-square-foot building scarcely accommodates the 8.5-barrel brewhouse, so the stainless-steel conditioning tanks are located outside. 

The impression is one of happy chaos, inside and out: Three recycled shipping containers house sacks of malt and new bottles, while two stacked rows of 225-liter French oak barrels, concrete eggs that were painted by local artists, and various fermentation and aging vessels encircle the yard. Now and then, a truck drops off water drawn from a local river. Young, gobelet-trained vines grow just a few feet away on the estate. The yard is the brewery’s nucleus, though fortunately, 300 sunny days are standard in Mendoza each year; it might be winter, and it’s going to snow at the weekend, but for now, blue sky bathes us. 

Meanwhile, smoke billows as a parrilla grill is fired up to serve a lunch of asado grilled meat. The table is set with wine glasses, and shade is provided by a 70-year-old Bonarda pergola. The message is clear: Chachingo might be one of Argentina’s most successful new breweries, but viticulture is a central part of its philosophy, the brewery’s heart itself shaped like a bunch of grapes. While Chachingo produces easy-drinking styles, such as IPAs and APAs, for a relatively new audience of beer drinkers, it also experiments extensively with local grapes, one of a handful in the Mendoza province crafting Grape Ales and other wine-beer hybrids.

Brewing beer that consumers actually want to drink in a land so dominated by wine culture made for a steep learning curve, Laguna says. “I started out practicing at home, but it got serious, fast. We were obliged to train as brewers, think like brewers, and perfect our techniques. But we also love wine.”

“I started out practicing at home, but it got serious, fast. We were obliged to train as brewers, think like brewers, and perfect our techniques. But we also love wine.”

Laguna—who has worked at traditional wineries including Poesía and Familia Cassone—and Aldunate form just half of the quartet behind Chachingo Craft Beer, a group of industrious, late-40-somethings who are all self-taught brewers. After years behind the wheel, Aldunate quit charging fares to go full-time at the brewery. 

“Being in a taxi meant long hours, working on public holidays, and it was becoming increasingly dangerous,” says Aldunate. “Making beer was a hobby that became a profession—that’s what now drives me.”

The other half of Chachingo’s team includes petroleum engineer Marcelo “El Tano” Tartaglia—when I visit, he’s away overseeing construction of a gastropub franchise in the Neuquén oil region—and Alejandro “El Ale” Vigil, the winemaking head at the renowned Bodega Catena Zapata. To say Vigil is well-known is an understatement, at least in the wine world: He was Argentina’s first winemaker to score 100 points from Wine Advocate, which he earned for his Adrianna Vineyard River Stones Malbec 2016. 

Now, he—and his three business partners—are bringing a similar focus and dedication to craft brewing in wine country.

OPENING THE DOOR

High-school classmates who used to play rugby together, the four have a friendship that spans 35 years. As teens, industrially made Quilmes Light Lager was their drink of choice. Ironically, beer became a more regular fixture only once Laguna and Vigil moved into the wine world, working the cycle that culminates, in Mendoza, in the annual Vendimia grape harvest. 

“Drinking ice-cold Lager is a fundamental part of the Vendimia ritual,” Laguna says. “Mendoza’s summer temperatures easily reach 95º Fahrenheit, so it refreshes you in ways that Malbec simply can’t.”

With maturity, their interest in beer grew. Vigil’s increasingly frequent travels to represent Bodega Catena Zapata took him to trade fairs all over the U.S. and Europe. The need to freshen his palate after intense Napa Cab sessions led him to the breweries of Portland, Oregon. Visits to European breweries soon followed, Brouwerij Bosteels and its DeuS Brut des Flandres one of many highlights he recalls from those trips. Returning to Mendoza with suitcases bulging with Saisons, Stouts, NEIPAs, APAs, and Goses—styles relatively unknown in Argentina at the time—to share with his buddies, Vigil began dabbling with homebrewing, and further linking the worlds of beer and wine in his work.

“I made my first homebrews in 2012; by 2016, things got really exciting,” Vigil says. “Playing around with native yeasts and Malbec and Criolla musts, I saw the possibility of exploring the similarities between beer and wine. I decide when we pick grapes, for example, so I wondered: ‘Why isn’t barley harvested earlier? Why don’t we dry it for more or less time?’ Beer piqued my curiosity.” 

Setting up a nascent brewery—one of 80 or so currently in Mendoza province, according to the Cámara Mendocina de Cervecerías Artesanales (CAMCA), the Mendoza Craft Brewery Chamber—was an additional excuse to get together, play around with beer, uncork Super Tuscans and Burgundy Grands Crus, light another fire, and slap a whole kid goat on the parrilla. The friends also realized they needed to capture the attention of Mendoza’s tourists, who sustain the province economically, plus keen, if fledgling, local consumers, who were drinking around 1,280 BBLs of craft beer a month between October 2019 and March 2020, according to CAMCA.

“Playing around with native yeasts and Malbec and Criolla musts, I saw the possibility of exploring the similarities between beer and wine. I decide when we pick grapes, for example, so I wondered: ‘Why isn’t barley harvested earlier? Why don’t we dry it for more or less time?’ Beer piqued my curiosity.”

While IPAs and APAs didn’t feel like an enormous stretch, the team had to consider how to sell more radical experiments, such as an Irish Red Ale made with Chardonnay grapes and arrope (a type of grape syrup) or a Malbec Stout, in industrial-Lager-loving Mendoza. “In the early days, when we started talking to craft brewers, most said the business would be economically viable with our own storefront,” says Laguna.  

Vigil had already created a successful restaurant and wine experience out of his vineyard with Casa Vigil, located next door to the brewery. Rolling out food pairings with craft beer seemed like a logical next step.

The first Chachingo Craft Beer gastropub opened in downtown Mendoza in 2017. Two more followed suit in Palmares Mall and on busy Avenida Juan B Justo in 2018 and 2019, respectively. Pitching up in a key location was a smart move, says Fernando Guillot, CAMCA’s president. 

“Chachingo’s business model is different from others, in that the brewery counts on its own bars, which are located at some of the key sites around the city, such as on Calle Aristedes,” Guillot says, referring to a local nightlife hotspot. “Although they have the opportunity to play around with styles, thereby finding out what the public is into, sales are assured. They also have sommeliers on hand to help customers with food and beer pairings.”

BREWING TERROIR

The village of Chachingo (population: 450), after which the brewery is named, is located in Maipú, one of Mendoza’s many grape-growing districts. In general, no one really comes here unless they’re going for a boozy lunch at Casa Vigil next door. There’s a frenzy of agricultural activity when pickers undertake grape and olive harvests between February and April, but the rest of the year Chachingo is decidedly sleepy. Farmers in boiná berets chit-chat alongside Calle Videla Aranda, the main north-south drag that divides the village, while stray dogs kill time chasing cars. Chachingo’s name has long been used by people from Mendoza City to say, in polite language, “out in the sticks,” without realizing that when they laugh at “la loma del Chachingo,” it’s actually a real place. 

But in 2017, the village caught consumers’ attention when its eponymous brewery made its home among trellis-trained vineyards and century-old olive groves, then slapped its name across a pub in Mendoza City’s downtown.

“Our neighbor who lives opposite the brewery has offered to cultivate pumpkins on a piece of empty land. One day, hopefully, that will be his full-time job. Making beer needs to be a virtuous circle.”

In a bid to imbue their products with a local identity, Chachingo’s brewers use grapes and grape juice in all their states, including whole clusters, freshly crushed juice, and finished red and white wine. The brewery also employs various winemaking techniques, including aging in used French oak barrels, utilizing wine yeasts, and two-part Champagne method fermentation. 

“Our identity begins with Chachingo,” says Laguna, “and by respecting the place, we’ve become part of it.” 

In addition to grapes, other locally cultivated products find their way into Chachingo’s beers. “We play around with the raw materials available: Quinces or plums from a neighbor, pomegranates from our own estate, peaches grown on local farms, or jarilla,” Laguna says, referring to a local herb. “For our Pumpkin Ale, we roast several types, including butternut squash, in embers with brown sugar, then add them to the mash bill, seeds and all, with the malt and allspice for 90 minutes at 140º Fahrenheit. Then, after boiling and fermenting, it goes into new oak barrels for winter.” Its spicy sweetness masks its 10% ABV. 

Local identity also means creating local jobs. One of Vigil’s dreams is to build a hospitality school, out here in the sticks, for Mendoza’s young people, whose future livelihoods will depend on tourism. In the meantime, dialogue with the village’s residents is open.

“Our neighbor who lives opposite the brewery has offered to cultivate pumpkins on a piece of empty land,” he says. “One day, hopefully, that will be his full-time job. Making beer needs to be a virtuous circle.” 

BLENDING TWO WORLDS

While Chachingo started out making 25 BBLs a month four years ago, today the brewhouse produces around 170 BBLs monthly. That ramps up to 255 BBLs in the summer months, when its staff brew during 24-hour shifts to meet the soaring seasonal demand. 

Chachingo’s portfolio features 18 classic styles designed for easy consumption, including an Amber Ale (which picked up a bronze medal in May’s Copa Arte Cervecero 2021), a Belgian Blonde Ale, and a Stout. Malts are both Argentine and Belgian; hops tend to be mostly American Cascade, Nugget, and Mosaic; while yeasts vary between wine and beer varieties, such as EC-1118, often used in Champagne. 

English Ale yeast also plays its part at Chachingo. “IPA and APA form the bulk of our sales because our consumers are on a learning curve and we’re still educating them,” says Vigil. 

Still, there’s often more to these seemingly basic beers than meets the eye, including those Mendoza-grown ingredients, as well as river and stream water sourced from Andean snowmelt. One 12% ABV Barley Wine uses a Pilsner malt base, Hallertau hops, and is aged in used French oak barrels for seven months, while another spends two years in barrels that previously held Malbec. 

Sometimes, unforeseen challenges arise out of all of this boundary-pushing. “Once I discovered a stainless tank of Chardonnay must that El Ale must have stored at the brewery and forgotten about, so I added it to a batch of Barley Wine,” Laguna says. “Its green pine notes were … unexpected.”

This yen for experimentation reaches its zenith in the brewery’s Single Barrel Series. The line takes inspiration from single-lot estate wines, and comprises wine-beer hybrids that are released in limited, 500-bottle runs. It is here that Chachingo feels most like a blend between brewery and winery; where its founding aims meld and combine to fantastical effect.

OENO-BEERS

By law, wine has been Argentina’s national beverage since 2013. And Mendoza is synonymous with wine—Malbec its uncontested star, plus a supporting cast of French varietals such as Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, with a few Italian and German grapes like Sangiovese and Riesling thrown in. 

“Wine is part of our culture, while beer is a companion for different moments,” says Laguna. “As our passion for craft beer grew, we wanted to make beverages that can pair with different dishes, like our asado, just as well as wine can.”

During the grape harvest, Chachingo has a dynamic approach to these “oeno-beers,” taking advantage of fresh must and whole clusters, often using underappreciated and economical trellis-cultivated varietals, such as Criolla and Moscatel, which enhance color and boost fruit flavors. Some undergo spontaneous fermentation. “Vendimia is when we make the most of the freshest of these elixirs,” says Laguna. 

One recent 6% Grape IPA was made with Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, and Pinot Noir, while another, made with Chardonnay, Riesling, and Pinot Noir, was dry-hopped. An experimental Saison featured Aspirant Bouchet, a French hybrid grape primarily used to impart deeper color to red wine blends, finishing up at almost 9%. Other experiments have included Stout with arrope grape syrup and Aspirant Bouchet, IPA made with Chardonnay, and a Tripel featuring Sauvignon Blanc. These small-batch, wine-beer mash-ups are numerous, and judging by their eagerness for me to taste from the tanks and barrels, Laguna and Aldunate enjoy the process of making them.

Chachingo’s answer to Italian Grape Ale—or at least its most recent iteration of the style—is its most radical brew to date, says Laguna. 

“We co-fermented a 70/30 Pils[ner] malt and wheat base with Garnacha [Grenache] must,” he explains. “It fermented for eight days in February, with five months cold aging at 28º Fahrenheit to concentrate flavors; it’s not very hoppy. I added a paste made from strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries from a local farm to the mash. That particular Grape Ale is notable for its onion-skin color, like a Provence rosé, and fine, mousse-like foam.” 

The Garnacha’s refreshing acidity, floral yet earthy aromas, and fruit flavors are evident and pleasing; its complex production aside, the experimental release is an easy drinker. Another recent Italian Grape Ale used whole-cluster Cabernet Franc, which underwent carbonic maceration for one year in French oak barrels that formerly held red wine, followed by a second year in the bottle. It looks like wine, with its pale pink tones, and aromas of raspberry and blueberry jump out of the glass. Its frothy head and refreshing acidity ensure its drinkability.

The sour beer and wild fermentation specialist Laurencio Romussi, head brewer at Mendoza’s Cervecería Tuut, says Chachingo’s ability to produce accessible beers in unconventional styles has earned it the admiration of a new drinking population in the province. 

“By producing craft beer on tap, Chachingo appeals to new casual craft beer drinkers, and that is boosted by their pubs’ presence,” says Romussi. “And given that Vigil’s name is so respected [in the wine world], the local concept, combined with making unconventional beer with a pinch of identity, certainly helps open doors to new consumers.” 

The Saison style particularly excites Vigil, and he’s proud of Chachingo’s latest iteration, which is co-fermented with Riesling and made using the Champagne method, complete with Champagne yeast. True to form, the bottles are riddled (or stored and rotated facing downwards in order to make it easier to extract the sediment later), but in a departure from Champagne, there’s no dosage (sugar, or a mix of sugar and wine) added. “[Spanish wine critic] Luis Gutiérrez tried it and said it wasn’t a Saison. I assured him it was, and that with its lees work, it’s Mendoza’s answer,” Vigil says. He pauses. “Though I’m fine-tuning it, as there’s a layer of alcohol that I’d like to be better integrated.”

Besides oak barrels, the brewing team at Chachingo plays around with 264-gallon concrete eggs, often used in whole-cluster wine production, to which Laguna attributes a positive impact on hop aroma. 

“When hops are added into the egg, the wort generates a yeast cap that falls naturally because of the shape of the egg, so there’s no need to intervene. Basically, the hops integrate better,” Laguna says. 

A VIRTUOUS CIRCLE

Setting the mood for our chili-snapping session is the Marcus King Band’s Always, the Andes listening passively in the background. Tonight, the three tectonic plates that formed the mountain range six million years ago will reveal their aggressive side, offering up two quakes that notch 4.7 and 4.9 on the Richter scale. 

The Black IPA is cooling. Later, the chilis will be hand-picked out of the mash, making it safe for its final consumers: a herd of Holando-Argentina dairy cattle whose four-part stomachs don’t take kindly to capsaicin. Twice a week, smallholding farmer Ramiro Ibal drives an hour from Ingeniero Giagnoni to relieve Chachingo and other area breweries of their spent grain. It’s a virtuous circle, the barley malt diet encouraging his herd to produce 100% more milk.

Other sustainable measures employed by the brewery include recycling oak barrels—acquired from Bodega Catena Zapata and El Enemigo, among other wineries—which in their post-beer life will become planters. And, as of spring 2021, it’s cultivating 7.4 acres of organic Cascade, Victoria, and Nugget hops in La Carrera, a renowned vineyard district in Mendoza’s Uco Valley, located at 5,250 feet above sea level. 

The question of water is more complicated. Mendoza is an elevated desert sustained by snowmelt, with open irrigation canals feeding the province. Water is highly prized and, fully aware of its high usage, Chachingo recycles wastewater to irrigate the neighboring vineyards and olive groves. In a bid to create a truly local beer from Mendoza, Laguna sources water from the Río Blanco river and Arroyo Piedra stream, mixing Andean snowmelts to find the perfect mineral balance for an extremely limited line of IPAs. 

“Water is the soul of beer and fundamental in our search to give our beers even greater local identity,” Laguna says.

GROWTH IN ALL ITS FORMS

Previously, the brewery only produced kegs for its own pubs, but during the pandemic it started canning with the Buenos Aires-based craft brewer Rabieta. “The advantage is tapping into Vigil’s wine connections to export to Buenos Aires and beyond,” says CAMCA’s Guillot. Cans of Chachingo Amber, IPA, Pale Ale, and Porter are also now available in two national supermarket chains, Jumbo and Carrefour. 

Its expansion has taken additional forms. Chachingo’s Neuquén franchised taproom was followed by a bar at Ezeiza International Airport in Buenos Aires, while another franchise in San Luis is in the pipeline. In addition, Vigil collaborated with local industrial behemoth Andes to create Andes Origen Criolla, a wine-beer hybrid that includes Criolla must, last summer. It was a positive experience, rather than one that went against his brewery’s sustainable spirit, says Vigil. “On the contrary, it united two worlds that are separate on an imaginary scale when really they should boost each other. That collaboration meant working on ties so locally, we have more alternatives.”

As for the brewery’s original headquarters, the Chachingo Hulk is finally being fitted for suitable clothing. The next step is opening a brewpub, the eighth in Mendoza City, whose goal will be to produce 1,080 BBLs a month. To house it, Vigil’s architect brother Nacho Márquez is renovating Tapau, a former 19,500-square-foot distillery. “Yeah, we’ll probably change the name to ‘Corazón de Lunlunta,’” laughs Vigil, referring to the brewery’s new location in the heart of nearby Lunlunta village. 

By the end of 2021, Chachingo’s Grape Ales and other wine-beer hybrids will be produced in its new home—Laguna says he can’t wait to brew on the bespoke 17-BBL system—and its barrels will increase from 40 to 300. Core-range styles, such as its IPAs, will continue to be made at Chachingo’s home base.

But even mid-expansion, the brewery’s mission remains focused, if complex. Locally grown hops, Argentine malt, regional produce, and river-sourced water all play into its quest to create beers with a Mendoza identity. And its founders’ deep passion for wine—and for bridging the wine and beer worlds—continues to demonstrate that “winery” and “brewery” may no longer need to operate as discrete categories.

“That’s the challenge,” Vigil says. “Wine gives me long-term satisfaction and grows with me, but beer gives me continual short-term satisfaction because I can create it every day.”

Words by Sorrel Moseley-WilliamsPhotos by Damian Liviciche