Hernán Fondado (Brewer): "You have to be a little crazy to be an entrepreneur"

The co-owner of the Lanzarote-based craft beer company 'Dos Cabras' talks about his business adventure, the double insularity and his new restaurant in Villa de Teguise

EKN

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EKN

January 27 2024 (07:31 WET)
Hernán Fondado, co-founder of 'Dos Cabras' in Lanzarote. Drinks.
Hernán Fondado, co-founder of 'Dos Cabras' in Lanzarote. Drinks.

The Argentinian Hernán Fondado, together with his English partner Gabin Lonworth, have been creating craft beer in Lanzarote since 2012. First with 'Los Aljibes' in Tahíche and now with six different varieties of ‘Dos Cabras'. 

In an interview on the Onda Cero radio show Más de Uno Gourmet, Fondado talks about the evolution of 'Saborea' since its inception, the challenges of exporting from the double insularity, and invites you to the restaurant that they currently run in Villa de Teguise, El Palacio del Marqués. 
 

  • How did you start with the production of beer?

We started in 2012 with the idea of ​​developing a product that is widely consumed, both by local people and by the tourists who visit us. 

Now we are renovated, in a new house, and with a new product, which is Dos Cabras in cans. Scientifically, the product is preserved much better in cans than in bottles, because it does not allow light to enter.

 

  • How did you choose the new name, 'Dos Cabras'?

'Dos Cabras' arose because we were leaving Los Aljibes, the place where we were born, and we understood that we had to turn marketing around and refresh our image. My partner Gabi and I have been here for about 15 years developing projects together, and in this world in which we live, I don't say in Lanzarote, but in any part of the planet, you have to be a little crazy to be an entrepreneur. 

That's where the name 'two crazy goats' came from, which was very long and became 'Dos Cabras'. We leave the rest to the imagination of our friends and clients.

 

  • How many varieties of beer do you have?

We have six different styles. We launched the sixth at Christmas, a Guinness Stout style beer with aromas of chocolate and coffee.

We have the lager (hells), the blonde beer, which mixed with lemon and orange aroma we call 'la chola'. 

 We also have American-style beers with a lot of hops. They are traditional recipes, but varied, to reach the palate of each consumer.

 

"Craft beer is a living product, a food"

 

  • How is the process of creating a craft beer?

I always say that, unfortunately, the beer that is produced industrially is called beer, but it has nothing to do with craft beer, which is a living product, a food. 

Industrial beer has flavor enhancers and added CO2. Our natural fermentation processes in isobaric tanks make it a much healthier product, even if it contains alcohol.

 

  • You have taken over the Palacio del Marqués in La Villa de Teguise, tell us, how has it been?

We were presented with the opportunity to offer our product in an emblematic place, one of the oldest in La Villa, with a very beautiful Canarian patio.

We make homemade, quality food, with zero kilometer products. Always respecting local producers a lot.  

It is open from Thursday to Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. and we offer several tapas dishes.

 

"If they support us with transportation, the island's producers can position ourselves and export, because we have products of excellent quality"

 

  • You who have been to all the Saborea fairs, how has it influenced the promotion of local products? 

At the first fair there were only 12 exhibitors, but we understood that it was a way to show ourselves to the entire island, and also so that tourists could have the island's gastronomic offer in one place.  

The fair has grown and so has tourism. Saborea has positioned us in the market in a very important way.

Now I receive a call from an Irishman who tried my product and is interested in it reaching his bar in England.

 

  • Do you also export? 

We are seeing, through the Chamber of Commerce and the Cabildo of Lanzarote, how to position all of us who make products in Lanzarote to make a small pallet of products and sell in other places.

 

  • Of course, that way you can reduce shipping costs...

Yes, the double insularity means that we pay more to introduce supplies to the island, such as bottles or anything. We do customs in Gran Canaria, while we watch the ship pass by here. 

If they support us with transport subsidies from the Government of the Canary Islands, through the Chamber of Commerce, the island's producers can position ourselves and export, because we have products of excellent quality.

 

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