How do we come up with the names for REFU beers?
And then, a typical brother-in-law, after a couple of beers too many, once told you
"The 10 minutes thing is how long it should take to drink the beer, one of those guys who work at REFU told me that once."
And we often hear things like this in bars:
Is the Huxley reference about Aldous Huxley? The author of "Brave New World"?
Short answer: NO.
Long answer: Ugh, we're way less witty than all that.
I don't think we'll surprise anyone if we say that, generally speaking, we're not very creative when it comes to names. However, even though it might not seem like it, there's a story behind each of the beers we've lovingly crafted all these years. To give you some context, we'll tell you how the names of our regular line (the original beers, that is), came about, so you can confidently silence any critics on any given night.
10 MINUTES, 20 MINUTES and 30 MINUTES
The story of 20 minutos cannot be understood without that of 10. And the story of 10 cannot be understood without our own story as a project and as a factory.
In 2018, when we finally unlocked the European funding and were able to move forward with the brewery project, the building was still being fitted out. You can imagine: it was full of workers asking David and Marc, " Are you making beer ?" every time someone went near the machinery or anything else.
On the first day they had a bit of peace and quiet, practically around midnight, David told Marc that they had everything ready to brew beer. Taking advantage of the quiet of the night, they decided to brew a first batch of beer, which would most likely end up going down the drain since they were still just testing the most basic equipment.
Marc looked at David and said , "What recipe are we going to use?"
And David, who hadn't even thought about it, said , "Well, give me 10 minutes and I'll sit in a corner and think about what we can do."
At that point, the process of brewing a beer began, which, in the end, turned out not to be so bad. Instead of throwing it away, we decided to save it and bottle it (somewhat haphazardly, it must be said) with the idea of asking our closest friends for their opinions.
In fact, without saying anything, David started serving it in the bar in Vielha to some customers and friends.
The 10-minute version was a huge success. Little by little, we began to perfect the recipe and ended up making it a regular part of our team.
Since it was a Session IPA, when it came time to make an IPA, we saw it as a natural evolution. So, without further ado, we named its older sister "20 MINUTOS".
The 30 MINUTES, as you can imagine, also has something to do with this story ;) And if one day we release a 40, a 50, we guarantee that we will not change our criteria.
BRUNO
We've told you before that when we arrived in the valley, we had two slogans. The official one (" beer culture ") and the one the locals gave us (" There are some guys over there, who look like criminals, selling very expensive beer ").
And so we started applying for loans that, along with the help we received, would allow us to open our own brewery after the bars in Baqueira and Vielha. It won't surprise you that when we started knocking on the doors of industrial warehouse owners to tell them about our project and ask for a place to brew beer, they looked at us like a lynx on a main road stares at a Seat Panda flashing its high beams.
After searching and searching, life led us to Bruno , a man from Graus in Aragon who had an old workshop in Bossòst. He was the only one who trusted us, so it didn't take long for us to dedicate a beer to him .
Bruno is the perfect beer to choose if you're looking to try dark beers and think you'll never like them. It's the kind of beer that, at 4% ABV, can gradually get the conversation flowing, changing your perception of heavier beers. In short: a perfect metaphor for what Bruno is all about.
HUXLEY
This beer is made in honor of Steve Huxley (not Aldous), the man who introduced craft beer to Spain. Born in Liverpool in 1950, Steve is considered the father of craft beer in Spain. In 1993, he opened his first brewery in the Gràcia neighborhood, the Barcelona Brewing Company.
Steve was a great friend of David's. Shortly before we opened our brewery in Bossòst, Steve passed away from cancer at the age of 80. In his honor, and thinking of his roots and favorite beers, we asked his family for permission to brew a beer in his name.
Created in the style of classic British beer, this brew is made to resemble English water. Its alcohol content and flavor make it the perfect beer for long after-dinner conversations, whether in winter or summer, whenever you want the conversation to flow. Just the way Steve liked it!
ROSEWOOD
This beer was also present in the early days of the REFU project, when we only had a small bar in Baqueira that we opened during the winter. Since we only opened the bar in winter due to the season, David would go to Italy in the summer to work as a brewer. There, at the end of summer, David would brew the beer that was later served in the bar.
In this environment of hard work but constant insecurity, as you can imagine, we had to fend for ourselves for everything. So, without having a clue, one day it was time to varnish the bar's wooden floors before opening for the winter season and get them ready. We bought a can of "Rosewood" colored varnish (that was the name on the box) and, to be honest, we didn't really know how to apply it properly.
It turned out terribly, but the color of the beer (a reddish brown) reminded us of how our furniture looked after this attempt at carpentry.
And Rosewood remained forever.
(We've already told you that we're a bit rubbish with names).
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