PORTLAND, Ore. — Brujos Brewing on Northwest Wilson Street in Portland opened in early March, but brewing beer has been owner Samuel Zermeño's longtime passion.
"Homebrewing just took over my life, I was so obsessed with it," he said.
Black walls, rich wood tables, candles and cathedral arches fit perfectly inside his gothic-inspired brew space. The word "brujos" means sorcerer and Zermeño is the wizard behind the beer.
Zermeño was born in Tijuana, Mexico and lived there until he was eight years old. When asked about his childhood and living in Tijuana, he said, "I remember tacos, tacos was like our McDonalds, our happy meal."
His grandma helped raise him, as his mom and dad worked to make a living. When he was eight years old, his family moved from Tijuana to Riverside, California for his dad's job. Family is a huge part of his life, just like his business.
"This place makes it feel like we have a family of our own here," Zermeño said about Brujos Brewing. "So we try to treat everyone like they are family."
His family helped play a role in creating the beer that would eventually turn into what the business is based on today. During a rock climbing accident, Zermeño broke both ankles and had to spend around six months in a wheelchair to recover.
"During that time, I just needed to find something to keep myself sane and that's when I started brewing," Zermeño said.
His brother helped do some of the heavy lifting during the first batches of beer. The do-it-yourself brew recipe he had chosen was called 'Hex'.
"Just experiencing that moment and having my brother there and having my mom come over and often would watch me and make sure I was good and feed me, it all just tied it back into the roots of where we came from," he said.
One day when he was making beer with his dad and brother outside his house in the driveway, his dad looked at them stirring the pot of hops and made an observation.
"My dad was like, 'Parecen brujitos, haciendo toloache,' which vaguely translates to, 'You look like little sorcerers making these magic potions.' The word brujitos stuck with me," Zermeño said.
Brujitos means little sorcerers. He played on that, getting rid of the word "little" in the meaning of the name and using "brujos."
"Brujos is Spanish for sorcerers or warlocks," Zermeño said.
He made and bottled beer for himself and his friends, but it would be several more years before Brujos Brewing was sold to consumers.
Zermeño worked for breweries in California and Oregon before settling in Portland when he accepted a job at Great Notion Brewing. In 2022, he was able to brew his first batch of beer for the public.
"It did great for them. We were brewing 30 barrels of one specific beer and it would sell out day of," Zermeño said.
His beer gained a following. When he left Great Notion and accepted a position at Living Haus, fans of his beer followed him, and even waited outside the brewery for his newest batch.
"It was super cool to meet these people and have them be that excited about the beers that we were releasing. We're like, 'It's just beer, you know.' They were like, 'No this is different. You have something special,'" Zermeño said.
What started as a hobby has now evolved into Brujos Brewing, where Zermeño serves beer inside his gothic-inspired brewery to customers he says are like family.
KGW's Breaking Barriers series features Oregonians making a difference in the world of sports, arts, government, business and more. You'll see stories for Hispanic Heritage Month from September 15-October 15.