This week’s “Hip Hops” column actually came yesterday, but we’ll take our local beer news wherever we can find it (and besides, it’s a slow restaurant news week coming on the heels of Memorial Day).
Here’s the text from Louisville Ale Trail at Facebook.
Cold beer and Mexican food. A match made in Louisville. @atgbrewery recently partnered with local Mexican restaurant powerhouse @elnopalmexicanrestaurant to create El Nopal Mexican Style Lager. Available in 4pks and on draft at multiple store locations throughout the area. Now pass the chips and salsa while you tell us your go-to order. Photo: Mark Smooth.
(Exactly why the word “cold” must always be used as an adjective with “beer” remains a mystery to me. I suppose it’s just another losing battle I’ve spent the past 40 years fighting.)
Against the Grain and El Nopal are entities known quite well by Louisvillians. Our F&D print edition listing for El Nopal reads like this:
These locally-owned restaurants have comprised a steadily growing mini-chain, winning popularity on the basis of delicious and inexpensive Mexican fare in comfortable surroundings, and proliferating to the point where currently El Nopal is second only to Starbucks in the number of metro Louisville locations.
And, as I once wrote about AtG:
It was clear from the start that subtlety wouldn’t be one of Against the Grain’s (ATG) core brands. The flagship Brewery & Smokehouse didn’t so much open the doors for business in 2011 as swagger, strut and sashay from the starting gate, vowing to push local beer to greater heights, and promising to never be boring in the process.
However, Mexican-style lager is nothing if not subtle, and brewing batches of it as a house brand for a restaurant with dozens of area locations is an inspired example of grown-up capitalism. Me thinks AtG has graduated from cargo shorts to three-piece suits, and I congratulate them for the transition.
For those asking the obvious question (“what makes a lager beer ‘Mexican’ as opposed to Egyptian or Burmese?”), we rewind to 2022 and the advent of Vida De Reyes, a Mexican lager brewed by Goodwood for Gustavo’s Mexican Grill.
“For the most part, these lagers are relatively clean, have practically zero bitterness, but also aren’t cloyingly sweet. Part of their magic is the addition of flaked maize, which is just corn that has been rolled through hot rollers to remove the germ, oil, and most of its protein.”
Sam Cruz was with us a few weeks ago on The Pubcast, and El Nopal Mexican Style Lager was part of the conversation. Here’s a link.
This week on the Pubcast, the guys chat with Sam Cruz, co-founder of Against the Grain Brewery in Louisville, Kentucky. Sam talks about starting the brewery, their unique beers, and the challenges they face in the craft beer world. Join us for an episode full of interesting stories and insights from behind the scenes at Against the Grain.
I haven’t sampled the beer yet, but will do so as soon as an opportunity presents itself. In closing, I can’t help thinking that it hasn’t been long since any mention of AtG in the context of “f-words” would have led the listener down predictably profane paths; now they’re “fast,” “fun” and “fresh.”
Verily, I never imagined that watching AtG grow up could be so entertaining.
Previously at “Hip Hops”:
Roger Baylor is an entrepreneur, educator, and innovator with 
