Jade Mountain Brewery & Teahouse: Blending Culture
May 18, 2022
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Jade Mountain Brewery & Teahouse:
Blending Culture
Malteurop Celebrates Craft Breweries During American Craft Beer Week
The annual nationwide event of American Craft Beer Week, May 16-22, 2022, celebrates small and independent craft breweries throughout the U.S. Malteurop Malting Co (MMC) is proud to highlight just a few of these remarkable breweries through their stories behind the beer. Let’s raise a glass to salute the resilient and extraordinary community that is craft beer!
About Jade Mountain Brewing Co
Jade Mountain Brewing Company & Teahouse opened in the spring of 2021 in Aurora, Colorado, just outside of Denver, with the goal of bringing Asian culture to America. And Sean Guerrero has done just that. Focusing on unique and experimental beers with Asian flavors that showcase a diverse style of beers, Sean is blending cultures.
He did exactly that with his taproom as well, going for the nontraditional and making it more like you’ve walked into a Chinese teahouse than an American brewery. The teahouse vibe brings in elements from different cities that Sean visited during his two years in China, including the wooden bar top, elegant lighting fixtures, and unique water feature. He even had a friend from China paint a mural on one wall, creating a world of culture inside a brewery.
“I try to incorporate all Asian cultures into the beers we’re doing. I want to try and give everyone a taste of home. It’s cool to see people of all cultures coming here.”
Jade Mountain: Made in China
So, where did this love of China come from?
Sean was born in Colorado, worked as a contractor for a while, but originally went to school for journalism. A part of his journalism requirements in college was to learn a foreign language. So in 2008 he went to China to teach English and promptly fell in love with the people and culture there, subsequently returning every year.
Ultimately he got a teaching job there, resulting in his move to China. From the beginning he knew he wanted to start a brewery in his new town to give him a taste of Colorado. His dad, a fellow contractor, came out to help put it all together. And in two months, from start to finish, the two of them built a brewery out of an old teahouse.
The original Jade Mountain opened in 2015 in Huzhou in Southern China. It was the first brewery in that area.
“Incorporating Asian ingredients was natural for me and I was excited to do a lot of these flavors.”
While Sean was excited for the Asian flavors, the locals were not. They wanted something more American, so Sean ended up brewing a lot of West Coast IPAs and wheat beers instead of the unique beers he had envisioned.
On the other hand, though, he had a lot of expats and tourists traveling through. He had a guy from Czech visit often, so he brewed a Czech lager for him. Another regular was from Poland, so he brewed a Grodziskie for her. They and others like them missed home, so he brought home to them.
And that is exactly what he is doing again in Colorado.
“I think it’s really cool that Jade Mountain can simultaneously be a taste of home for some people and give some people the ability to travel when they normally wouldn’t have that opportunity right now. So for people who can’t go home or people that can’t leave home to get away to explore, it’s an opportunity to relive fond memories or make new ones.” (Dustin Craft, MMC Mountain Region Craft Sales Manager)
Sean always knew Jade Mountain in China would be temporary. He had always planned on bringing his brewery home to Colorado. He wanted to showcase what he had learned in China and bring the Asian flavors back with him.
“I wanted to be more experimental and use some of the flavors that I found out there. The palate of the local people [in China] wasn’t attuned to these flavors in beer; it was hard to show them something that different. People here [in the U.S.] are willing to try something new and different and challenge their palate.”
A Passion for Brewing
So, after three years of working to get Jade Mountain open in Colorado (a bit of a different time span than the two months it took him in China), he finally opened his doors in 2021 in Aurora, Colorado.
Sean’s passion for brewing comes from wanting to bring all cultures to beer regardless of where he is.
“There’s very little diversity in beer and sometimes it’s hard to find something that makes sense to you. But trying to figure out flavors can bring people from other cultures into the realm of craft beer.”
The Future of Craft Beer at Jade Mountain
Being both a brewery and a teahouse, Sean wants to continue focusing on brewing unique beers, but he also wants to turn some of that focus towards tea. This would include non-alcoholic teas lightly carbonated, along with loose-leaf teas, and hard teas.
Brewing right around 70 beers in their first year, Sean also sees them honing in more on all the flavors, while staying true to their innovative roots.
As for the future of beer in the U.S. Sean believes there’s always room for unique beers that bring about different perspectives on both beer and culture alike. That’s where “Blending Culture” comes from. A take on words encompassing both fermentables and community.
And since Sean started his brewing business in China, we were curious as to where he thinks breweries are heading there. When he first opened Jade Mountain in 2015, there were maybe 50 breweries in the entire country, now there’s probably around two to three hundred and room to continue growing. And while the Chinese government can be difficult to work with when it comes to foreign companies, it’s the local people that are actually creating the change there when it comes to brewing and beer. They don’t have the preconceived notions that we do here in the states when it comes to defining craft beer.
Blending Culture with Beer and Community
Jade Mountain has developed the reputation that when you come into their taproom, you’re not going to find something normal. And people are excited for that.
With a constantly rotating tap menu of wild, well-balanced, flavorful beers, you’ll need an open mind and an open glass because you’ll want to experience them all.
Sean and his team have crafted many unique brews, including some with thai chilis, oyster sauce, and even ramen noodles. Ever heard of an orange chicken beer? They’ve done that, too, using very specific spices to create the flavors needed. They’ve even made a beer using durian. Durian is a pungent fruit that is actually banned in some countries due to its foul smells.
Yes, you can still come into Jade Mountain and find a stout or an IPA or a sour, but each beer is uniquely made, yet still balanced, and well-thought out.
“I’m very experimental, so anything that comes out that’s new or special or weird I’ll try it. I’m always going for that shock value and people are like, ‘What’s in this glass? That’s insane! I’ve never had anything like this before.’ But it’s in a format they can understand. Beer.”
The flavors blend together in layers just like people blend together over beer.
Moving Forward with Support
Malts are an important ingredient when it comes to crafting the unique beers that Sean loves to brew. They need to complement the flavors, and Malteurop Malting Company’s malts do exactly that.
“We just recently switched over to Malteurop and started using their Crystal Wheat 3L. It created a residual malt sweetness without that unwanted cloying caramel crystal malt flavor, so this was a unique take on crystal malt. Malteurop’s Crystal Wheat 3L complemented all the flavors really well with great efficiency.”
Malteurop’s goal is to support what brewers want to do and help emphasize the parts of the beer that they want emphasized.
“There’s a lot of opportunities to do that and that’s part of the fun; coming up with ways to help you make interesting beers.” (Dustin Craft, MMC)
Brewing for American Craft Beer Week
American Craft Beer Week or just a typical Thursday, you’ll be sure to find something that you’ve never experienced before at Jade Mountain. And if you’re more of a traditional beer drinker, you’ll still find a beer that will awaken your senses, in every sense of the word.
Thank You!
Dustin says it perfectly. “There’s a huge world out there and beer right now in the U.S. is still very focused on a couple of specific areas. There are many other viewpoints to explore and it’s cool to see more of those getting incorporated. People are now becoming more interested in craft beer as a culture.”
Sean, you have brought the world to us.
“There’s a lot of ways to be creative and it’s super fun to explore it.”
Connect with Jade Mountain Brewing Co
4233 S. Buckley Rd.
Aurora, CO 80013