We were lucky to catch up with Nathaniel Schmidt recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Nathaniel , thanks for joining us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

It all started when someone gave us a kit to make beer. During those times, we went to the wine festivals and after a LOT of wine,all we really wanted was a nice, cold beer. The concept of craft breweries wasn’t as known in Baja back then, so we started making our own beer as a hobby, people started liking our beer and we started growing rapidly.

I am a marine biologist so I was really fond of the idea of using elements of the ocean and names of the ocean and experiences that we had on the ocean to name our beers and work our brand around that idea. That’s how Aguamala started to grew very organically

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hi, I’m Nathaniel Schmidt. Founder and brewer of Cervecería Aguamala based in Ensenada, Mexico.

The idea of Aguamala was the result of two of my passions, which are the ocean life and experimentation. In 2005, it all started with a kit to make beer, a small accident in the kitchen and the need to create something a little bit different that the beer market was offering. What started as a hobby, gradually began to evolve into something more established thanks to the great response from the people and the enjoyment we had while experimenting with beer recipes.

The inspiration behind the image of our brand is the ocean, their flora and fauna. While “Aguamala” is literally translated as “bad water”, it actually means “jellyfish” in Spanish. Just as the name of our brewery, every label has a story behind their name, all related to the ocean.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

A story that illustrates our resilience is being able to get through the pandemic. Having a brewery, which people didn’t immediately see as a need, was scary because we would have to close and we had a lot of employees that we needed to take care of. What really saved us was that a lot of the largest breweries in Mexico closed and it was almost like the run for toilet paper: Everybody decided they really wanted beer and thanks to those massive sales and the larger breweries closing is what really helped us and got us through those difficult times.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson we had to unlearn is that originally we didn’t want to have a bar. We just wanted to have a brewery and make beer and sell beer. But we realized it was really important to have a tasting room so people can enjoy the experience and can taste the beers in that location and more people get to know us than if we’re just trying to sell our beers.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.aguamala.com.mx
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cerveceriaaguamala
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CerveceriaAguamala
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@cerveceriaaguamala2564
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/cervecer%C3%ADa-aguamala-ensenada
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@cerveceriaaguamala