What beer would I want to drink at the beach? That is the question that drives the creative process behind the beers at Ocean Lab Brewing Co. Each one is conceived and made by Puerto Ricans, for Puerto Ricans to enjoy. The inspiration comes from the backyard: field-grown calabaza, carambola and parcha, the afternoon coffee. That constant search has produced more than 18 varieties available year-round, a catalog that now has more physical room to grow with the opening of a new production facility in Cataño.
The new facility's 80,000 square feet allow the company to go from a production capacity of 140,000 cases, which it had in Isla Verde, to about 600,000 cases of beer per year, nearly four times what it produced before.
"For us it's extremely important, because for four years we had been running our production capacity at 100%, and now we have the volume to meet the demand we're seeing in the market," Ocean Lab co-founder Luis Fernandez told Platea.
The investment was $10 million, according to Fernández. With the new facility, Ocean Lab now has close to 60 full-time employees, a number the company expects to keep growing.
Why does it matter? Behind the expansion is a larger bet: gaining ground against imported beer. "As my father mentioned, around 60% of the beer consumed in Puerto Rico is imported, so it's an enormous market where we can push to get more Puerto Rican beer here," said Andrés Fernández, also a partner in the brand.
"We now have the capacity to grow the Puerto Rican beer market, which has been weakened by all the imports that have existed over the years here in Puerto Rico, and we want to change that," says Luis Fernández.
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An opportunity for craft beer. According to Andrés Fernández, Cervecera de Puerto Rico, which produces beers such as Medalla Light, Magna, Medalla Ultra, Del Oeste and Silver Key, holds close to 37% of the beer market, leaving 3% for craft breweries. Of that percentage, he estimates that Ocean Lab currently accounts for 30% of total sales in the craft segment.
Within Puerto Rico's production landscape, Ocean Lab stands out for making craft beer with a focus on flavor, variety and freshness.
For Luis Fernández, the difference from other local breweries comes down to the people and the process: "The big difference between Ocean Lab and the rest is that it's made here in Puerto Rico. The water comes from Lago Dos Bocas in Utuado through the Supertubo, and it's made by Puerto Ricans. Our brewmaster is from Canóvanas. All our supervisors are from here, from the Island. (…). We can truly say that we are purely Puerto Rican," he said.
Education as a pillar of the brand. Andrés Fernández added that consumer education is part of their work: "Something very important for us is also education, because the world of craft beer is something relatively recent here in Puerto Rico," he said.
From a gas station experiment to a production facility
Ocean Lab was not born as a brewery. According to Andrés Fernández, it all started when his father and his uncle, Luis and Matías Fernández, bought a gas station at the exit of Cataño, on the condition that they operate it for five years. They called it Palma Station.
The business changed when they noticed that people were staying to drink beer while waiting for the San Juan traffic to clear. They began making drinks, and from there they grew into craft beer. Driven by the engineering backgrounds that Luis and Matías had developed in the United States, Palma Station eventually had 40 different taps and became a gathering spot for homebrewers, which planted the idea of having their own brewery. The project came together in 2017 with the opening of the Ocean Lab facility in Isla Verde.
A collaborative industry. To honor those early days, when the brewing community gathered at Palma Station, Ocean Lab organizes its own Beer Fest every year, an event where small beer producers have space to show their brewing process and let the local public taste their creations: "We put on that event so that small beer producers can also showcase their product," explains Andrés Fernández.
A future on the Island
On the question of exporting their beer, they have not yet taken concrete steps because the focus is on capturing the local market. "We never know where our limit is here in Puerto Rico because right now we see it as infinite. We distribute between Cabo Rojo and Vieques, but there is still a lot of ground we can cover in between all of that," adds Luis Fernández.
"We want Puerto Ricans to be able to enjoy beer made here in Puerto Rico with Puerto Rican hands, on Puerto Rican soil, so that we can truly show the world that we can make the best beer in the world," he concludes.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
