Miramar Brewing LLC. bets on growth of local craft beer
Looking to “rescue” the Old Harbor Brewery — a once popular brewery and restaurant in Old San Juan — Advent-Morro Equity Partners and Ballester Hermanos Inc. have joined efforts as investors to create Miramar Brewing LLC.
With an investment amounting to more than $6 million, the company currently has a craft beer manufacturing and packaging team created with the highest European technology. In addition, it has a quality control laboratory that guarantees the freshness and consistency of the product, from the moment it’s manufactured until it reaches the customer’s table.
Miramar Brewing LLC was created to rescue the Old Harbor Brewery, the first craft brewery on the island. This acquisition reinforces key aspects that will highlight the values and philosophy of this brand, which in 2018 opened a new location in Carolina that combines a brewery and entertainment area.
The project contemplates the “revamping, rebranding and reformulation” of recipes of the brewery founded in Old San Juan, emphasizing on the consistency, quality, and freshness of its products, executives said.
Miramar Brewing seeks to create alliances for the growth of the world of craft beers in Puerto Rico, as part of a highly prestigious transformative plan that combines “local economic injection and job creation.”
Miramar Brewing will promote not only local production, but also aims at getting small and medium-sized Puerto Rican companies to work together, due to its ability to produce recipes for third parties in a format of co-packaging cans and bottles.
The short and long-term goal is to help small or regional breweries produce their product in Puerto Rico and not have to send their recipes to the United States, thus avoiding logistical problems.
“We’re working to face the challenges of the industry in the short and long term, focused on developing the company in a dynamic environment because we trust in the ability to develop and enhance the beer made here,” said Francisco Marrero, general manager of Miramar Brewing LLC.
“In addition, we opened the space to encourage Puerto Rico’s economy by generating jobs and reducing imports,” he said.
This business plan would position Miramar Brewing LLC, as a diverse project offering different options for consumers that constantly seek variety and novelty and quality in the products they purchase. Miramar Brewing LLC plans to open a “taproom” in Carolina by mid-2023.
As News is my Business reported in August 2018, Old Harbor Brewery made a comeback in the hands of Destilería National Inc., which invested some $3 million to revive the artisanal brand after a three-year absence.
News is my Business reported that the brewery had to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2015 and subsequently closed shop.
In an exclusive interview with this media outlet, then Investing Partner William Cruz said his company had been involved with Old Harbor Brewery’s former owners, Dito Inc., which ran into trouble — and “serious economic problems” — since 2015.
Cruz said at the time that it was impossible to also keep the Old San Juan property where the restaurant and bar was located for nearly a decade. It was sold during the Chapter 7 proceeding, which the court approved for Old Harbor Brewery in July 2016.
Nonetheless, according to reports, Destilería National Inc. also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2020.
