Meet Bobby Hottensen and Matt Greenberg of Nicaragua Craft Beer Co.

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bobby Hottensen and Matt Greenberg.

Bobby and Matt, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Our brewery started with a surf trip to Central America about ten years ago. We had some experience working at breweries during college, so we knew a bit about the industry. When we showed up in Nicaragua, we fell in love with the country’s natural beauty, its people and the amazing waves.

We could see it was on the precipice of a tourism boom and we also noticed that there wasn’t a single craft brewery there. So the idea was hatched to open a brewpub in the country’s most famous beach town, San Juan del Sur. We had a 2-phased business plan: Phase 1 was to open the brewpub, and Phase 2 was to share our story and unique lifestyle brand with people in USA by exporting a beer that represents everything we love about Nicaragua. In 2017 we launched “Panga Drops” Pilsner in LA and NYC. One of our team-members from Nica, Andrew McCarthy, moved back to his home in Hermosa Beach to run our sales in marketing in LA and open the market for us. We gradually gained a foothold by doing events and connecting with different businesses and organizations that shared some of our values and interests.

We are now sold in 15 states in USA and in China as well. We currently have ~70 accounts across LA and we are being distributed by Beauchamp Distributing Co.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Doing business in Central America has many challenges! We have learned to love the process and roll with the punches. Political turmoil in Nicaragua in 2018 had a huge impact on our business. Tourism came to a grinding halt and we were forced re-evaluate and change all the plans we had for expansion of our brewery in San Juan del Sur. We built a new brewery across the border in Costa Rica called Papagayo Brewing Co which opened in December 2019. Our pub in SJDS recovered quickly from the turmoil of 2018 and we are off to a great start with our new venture in Costa Rica.

The Coronavirus has obviously had a tremendous effect as well. The closures of bars and restaurants has created a very difficult climate for selling beer in USA, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. We are finding ways to adapt to what is happening and we believe that overcoming challenges and getting past roadblocks is how we grow and get stronger as a company.

So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Nicaragua Craft Beer Co story. Tell us more about the business.
The heart of Nicaragua Craft Beer Co is our brewpub in San Juan del Sur. It is a 100-seat pub/restaurant with an adjacent beer garden in Nicaragua’s tourism hub and most bustling beach town, San Juan del Sur. We have a constantly rotating list of beers that often use some really unique local ingredients. To name a few: passion fruit ale, dragon fruit sour beer and mango blonde ale. We welcome adventurous travelers from all over the world who are drawn to Nicaragua for its beautiful beaches, perfect waves and colonial cities.

Our export beer, Panga Drops, is a very crisp and refreshing unfiltered Pilsner packaged in a yellow 8oz. “squat” can. We have definitely become known for this unique packaging format and the yellow can makes it really stick out the shelf. The beer packs a little punch at 6.2% but it is very easy to drink and is perfect for LA weather. The idea behind the short can is that in the tropical heat of Nicaragua, a full-size beer gets warm quick. We want to ensure every drop is enjoyed cold, so we cut down the size and moved those last few sips to the next can!

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I think more than luck, timing played a roll in how we were founded. Our business started with three founding partners who shared a vision for creating the first brewery in Nicaragua. That vision could not have formed if certain things did not fall into place the way that they did.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.nicacraftbeer.com
• Email: sjdsbrewers@gmail.com
• Instagram: @nica_craftbeerco
• Facebook: facebook.com/sjdsbrewers
• Other: papagayo-brewing.com

Image Credit:
Product shots: Brent Harrewyn

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