Whether due to a generational change or as a consequence of growing older, people are seeking new meaning in their lives, a meaning they had previously lost. It is as if we wish to return to a place we had left behind. As such, Costa Ricans are looking to the little things that make life much better. There is a movement to reclaim cities, retell stories and find products from local designers. We are embracing the idea of eating fresh food, with no chemicals or preservatives; respecting animals; and restoring a natural balance we have disturbed. We remind ourselves that life is richer with less.
Amidst the heat of Puntarenas, Jacob runs one of the new craft-beer facilities in the country. La Selva Cerveza Artesanal (La Selva Craft Beer) offers Ticos six beer flavors made exclusively from the four ingredients that make a beer a beer: hops, malt, yeast and water (in fact, in 1516, the Bavarian Purity Act, established by King William IV of Bavaria, stipulated that beer could only be made from water, barley malt, and hops). These four ingredients are combined to produce six flavors of beer, with suggestive names: Pale, Golden, Orange, Chestnut, Brunette, and Dark.
Although four ingredients may seem few, Jacob’s bet is to provide pure and consistent beer. Instead of trying to create an impact using exotic flavors, La Selva bets on a product whose quality is sustained by the grains’ roast, the amount of added ingredients and the moment when these are added to the concoction. Additionally, each of the ingredients is a family and adds flavor, odor or the characteristic bitter taste of beer. More than 50 types of hops, over 30 different families of roasted grain, and more than 5 species of yeast all create different combinations you can try in the products.
“I try to offer a beer that gets better every day. Our job is to give the Costa Rican public a beer that is alive and more palatable every time. Each day, we make a beer that tops the previous one. It is alive. It changes. We seek to provide a unique taste, optimizing the process of aging the beer to bring forth its flavors. We are on a constant quest for our product to meet our customers’ demands, day in and day out.”
Living Ale
La Selva craft beer brings a lifestyle philosophy to the Costa Rican market. What Jacob calls a “living Ale” refers not only to the product, but to his outlook on life. This Israeli businessman came to Costa Rica fifteen years ago with his girlfriend. He fell in love with Costa Rica, the jungle, its wildlife, and the sea. Above all, he was glad to choose the life he wanted to live. Jacob’s home is located in Cabuya, Puntarenas, and he is much in love with his lifestyle of less is more.
But, for Jacob, creating and distributing his own beer goes beyond a mere act of consumption. The whole initiative is based on the philosophy of a living ale, which manifests itself in three essential aspects.
- We belong to a world of living beings. La Selva does not only produce beer. It takes
part in a world-view of balance, where all living beings share our planet and have the same sense of existence. Nature’s balance can be experienced more closely far away from the city. When we are in the city, we might feel isolated, thinking we are the only animals on the planet. When we are in “the jungle”, everything around us seems to fit, and we find a sense of belonging. - The beer is alive. It is not pasteurized or filtered. It is a beer with all the yeast inside. It is alive. It should be drunk fresh. There is an expiration date for its storage. It is not like pasteurized beer, which can be kept for over a year.
- This beer changes all the time. Our procedures and combinations are constantly changing because we want to provide a premium product every time.
Jacob’s brewery currently produces 150,000 liters per year. Including exporting to Central America and Canada. there are plans in motion to expand the production plant still and export more of the lifestyle Costa Rica has to offer.
Some people have found the secret to happiness: they have found their place in the world. When enjoying the taste of an IPA or a Costa Rican brown ale beer, remember you are participating in the vision of a man with a passion for life, who found his place in Costa Rica.
La Selva Cerveza Artesanal 