The quiet echo of traffic from Broadway Boulevard in Tucson as the hipsters stroll in on a Sunday afternoon asking for beer flights of their finest. What appears as three different colors of beer on a wooden platter, the beer server explains where each come from and what to expect in taste. Pueblo Vida Brewing Company is just one of the many hot spots keeping Tucson’s night life alive.
Strolling into work at noon, sitting at the bar, typing with her left hand and sipping a beer with her right. The regulars haven’t arrived yet so this gives her time to clean the counters and head on to the back where the magic happens: the brews.
Linette Antillon is the co-founder of Pueblo Vida Brewing Company, which is located at 115 E. Broadway Blvd. She is a University of Arizona alum from the Eller College of Management where she met her boyfriend, Kyle Jefferson, who is the co-founder of the business.
Linette Antillon
“Having a business partner is like you married or are dating that person because you are always with them so it just makes it easier that we are already doing that,” said Jefferson. “Once we get home, we don’t talk about the business at all.”
Jefferson grew up in Seattle, a popular location for craft brewers. He fell in love with the industry and starting brewing his own craft beers. Antillon then learned about craft beers from Jefferson.
The couple graduated from Eller in 2009 when the job market had collapsed during the Great Recession. They decided to move to Seattle for three years. Jefferson had an unpaid internship at a local brewery, and Antillon worked in marketing at a hotel in downtown area. They learn everything they could about the brewing industry and how it works, and then move back to Tucson to open their own company.
“At the time, there were only three breweries in Tucson and now there are about 20 so, it just made sense for us to open our own in the town where we met,” said Jefferson.
Casey Johnson, an employee at the Crooked Tooth Brewing Company, said even though locals have their favorite breweries, the competition in Tucson is pretty friendly and everyone tries to help each other out.
Antillon said most would think working in a male-dominant industry would have its challenges because it is expected that she is making the brew herself – although, that’s not the case. Antillon manages the marketing side of the business since it’s her passion.
“I became interested in beer because it used to be so one-dimensional but craft beers are amazing since you can do so much with just four ingredients,” said Antillon. “That’s kind of what drew me to this business, the ability to be so creative.”
The couple really likes to brew a certain type of beer before getting creative. They like to focus on IPAs and pale ales. Antillon said hops are fun to play with because she can get a lot of different aromas and flavors out of it.
“We also like to try fun stuff like recently we did a rice cream IPA that we brewed with rice and coconut,” she said. “It was super fruity, flavorful, and very different and unique than anything else that is out in the market.”
Brewing beer starts in the brewing house where you boil hot water and malt – with different kinds of malts and grains which creates what is called a “mash.” “You basically just boil it like you are making oatmeal or porridge,” said Antillon.
Once the right amount is in the mash, the brewer pulls out the hot water and leaves behind all the grain. Antillon and Jefferson donate that grain to local farms to feed animals but usually grain goes in the garbage at other breweries.
After transferring the water over, that becomes the base of the beer and that is when the brewer will add the hops for flavors. From there, the brew is sent to a fermenter where fermentation happens and you add the yeast – at that point, the yeast starts to convert the liquid into alcohol. It then sits there for an average of 14 days and the brewer will then take it off the fermenter and carbonate the liquid to make it drinkable beer.
“There are brews that take longer than 14 days, we’re unique in that we don’t filter anything so if we do a logger, we are going to let it filter on its own. A lot of places will filter out all the additives,” said Antillon.
Even though both co-founders like to divide their work space, Antillon is doing the marketing side of the business and Jefferson is controlling the brewing side, they still lean on each other while completing every task. “If I’m paying the bills, he’s always there helping and vice versa,” she said. “Although it sounds like it’s a 50/50 job, we are still helping each other in every aspect of the business.”
Antillon said they faced some challenges before the grand-opening dealing with finances and having to remodel the space but they chose this space before downtown became popular and it will turn three years old this October. Now, they are looking to expand their company because their demand is so high and needed to double their production capacity.
“We really wanted to be downtown and we thought this place had a lot of charm and potential even before we remodeled it,” said Antillon.
Potential and charm didn’t just catch Antillon’s eye but also Robert Mayer’s, who is the president of Arizona Party Bikes. Arizona Party Bikes is a drinking tour where participants sit around one giant bicycle and pedal their way through the streets of Tucson while drinking and stopping at bars or breweries.
Mayer said he selected Pueblo Vida Brewing Company as one of the three brewery destinations for the tour because there is a lot of interesting history behind the building, they re-use their wood, have a lot of IPAs and his favorite brew is their Hefeweizen.
“Their location is really great, their brews are good, and they are really easy to work with so it only makes sense to show Tucson tourists this space,” said Mayer.
The brewery is open seven days a week and they are busiest on Fridays and Saturdays when everyone is out. Every Sunday they hold yoga classes at 10:30 a.m. for an hour called “Pints and Poses”. For $5 a week, there are different instructors so that participants can have a variety of different yoga experiences and after each class, the instructors drink beer with participants from the class.
Q&A:
What brings you the most happiness from this job?
“Definitely seeing the joy this place brings to people, we have a lot of regulars and it’s really nice seeing the grow in their lives as well as hearing about one of our beers being their favorite. That’s definitely the best part of this job.”
What do you do in your free time when you aren’t managing your business?
“I love to do yoga so I do that quite a bit, I love to read and go hiking. So that’s kind of where I spend my time if I’m not here.”
What’s the funniest moment that’s happened since you first opened?
“That’s a tough question. Every night has its own story, a lot of customers like to bring their dogs so their dogs can be funny and we also have a lot of events so those are always fun to be around.” What were you like in high school? Would you say you changed at all?
“I wouldn’t say I changed that much. I have a very “A-Type” of personality so I was always involved in a lot of things, I always loved learning so I’m kind of a nerd – I wouldn’t say I changed much.”
Why did you decide to hold yoga classes here?
“I thought it was a fun thing to do. Our space has these awesome, old hardware floors that are very reminiscent to a yoga studio so I thought it would be a fun way to bring both of those worlds together. We’ve been doing it for three years now, people really love it. The classes are always pretty full and the instructors like teaching in a different environment.”
Do you have a favorite brew?
“Noooo, I drink them all so I can’t pick a favorite but it usually depends what I’m in the mood for. What I’m drinking will depend on what activity I’m doing. For example, I love drinking a stout at night when I’m sitting on the couch and watching T.V. or eating dinner. IPAs, I usually drink more socially like when I’m out and about and when I’m hiking, I like drinking something light and refreshing like our Hefeweizen. It kind of varies all over but yeah I drink it all.”
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