Do you remember where you were exactly two years ago? The answer is the same for everyone: at home. During this time of our lives, we did absolutely everything, or rather, everything we could, to keep ourselves healthy and sane.

We read, studied, worked from home, laughed, cried, meditated, did video calls and various cardio workouts on YouTube, and even attempted baking sourdough bread while devouring Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin's hilarious story on Netflix.

Well, the main characters in this new article for the Crafted Radar series, in addition to all of the above, decided to spend their days developing an idea that, after many hours of work and effort, turned into a very tangible business: the Animus Brewing Co. project.

Behind Animus is its founder, Peter, an affable and generous person who shuns the limelight. When talking about his project, he insists on emphasizing that Animus is not only him, but that it is made up of all the people -among them, his girlfriend Constanza- who have been with him since day one and who have made it possible, admitting that even the smallest collaborator is important. As he himself defines it: “we are like a club of friends”.

I can assure you that his words are sincere, and having him in C R A F T E D today has not been an easy task. Luckily, after arduous negotiations and the occasional porrón involved, we have achieved it.

YEAR OF FOUNDATION AND ORIGIN OF THE PROJECT

Peter came to Barcelona from his native Argentina, to join a vintage bicycle shop called Monsieur Veló founded by his brother-in-law. In addition to the bikes, and as you can imagine, Peter was a great beer fan, so it is not surprising that one day they decided to create a beer for the business, the "Monsieur Veló Beer".

His passion for beer, however, led them to go different ways. Peter acknowledges that the lockdown sped up the whole process: “In the middle of the lockdown madness, we started to think more and more about it and finally decided to create a new brand that had nothing to do with the bike shop. That's when the Animus project came about." A project that began to take shape in March 2020, and which materialized after the launch of the first beer in August of the same year.

LOCATION AND BUSINESS MODEL

The magic of Animus happens in a small unit located in the Baix Guinardó neighborhood: “at the start of the project we decided to incorporate a small canning equipment into the unit, and base our model on batches of a few litres. The idea was to sell the cans very quickly so that they would be consumed very fresh. We were aware that with our equipment, it was very difficult to compete with the systems of the giant brands that prevent the oxidation that affects the beers a lot. For this reason, we always focused on adapting to our possibilities and on brewing small batches, which, on the other hand, also allowed us to make beers constantly and that would not spoil”.

I would like to emphasize that, despite the humility, gratitude and prudence that the Animus team radiates at all times, the reality is that in less than two years they have managed to become one of the most relevant breweries locally. Moreover, in the ranking of the best breweries in Spain according to the ratings of Untappd users, today it holds second position. A circumstance that, regardless of the opinion that each one may have on this type of social platform, shows that something is happening and that in that small team in Baix Guinardó, things are being done well.

For Peter, one of the key aspects of his growth has undoubtedly been being able to count on the support of some colleagues in the field: “doors began to open for us when older and more experienced people helped and supported us, and that is something we will always keep in mind. People like Arnau from Espiga, Aleix from Maresme, Mikel from the Barcelona Beer Festival and from La Pirata, Robin from Freddo Fox, and breweries like Juguetes Perdidos from Argentina, Salama Brewing from Finland and Akia from Sweden, to name a few”.

BRAND PHILOSOPHY AND IDENTITY

The first thing that caught my attention about Animus as a brand, even before knowing about the project and trying its beers, was its image.

For one thing, the name. Both Peter and Constanza agree in pointing out that the final choice was the result of a long process in which several alternatives were proposed: “the idea for the name came from a brainstorming session in which we were looking for something mysterious, not very obvious, related to the spectral realm, the animas and the ghosts, and it was not too dark. In Latin, Animus, has multiple meanings, most of them related to things that are not physical, and it fit with our idea.”

And secondly, the designs. As you know, at C R A F T E D we focus a lot on the art of labels, and in this case, it was obvious that we could not ignore the fascinating and intriguing imagery created by the artist Máximo Balestrini to give the brand identity: “all the designs are work of my cousin Máximo. After thinking about it a thousand times and working on many different proposals, we shared ideas and we loved the result”.

This careful and participatory way of working on identity is, in my view, consistent with their philosophy and the values ​​that they imprint on the brand's personality: “our philosophy is collective. We want to make collaborations, new friends, establish synergies, travel with the beer, invite people to our home, hold events, and above all, enjoy it. To achieve this, to maintain ourselves relevant and for the industry to grow, something that we believe benefits us all, our philosophy is to add people who contribute to the project and the team”.

BEER STYLES

If we talk about styles, and we review the beers that Animus has launched on the market to date, there is no doubt that the Hazy IPAs or Neipas have a predominant role. At the beginning, they took it as a challenge: “They had always told us that with the team we had we could never brew Neipas, which motivated us to prove the opposite. It was a style that we liked a lot and that we also knew perfectly after having lived in the United States and traveled to other countries. In addition, it coincided that we were at a time when everyone was making Neipas, and we started with them”.

Despite joining the exuberant Neipa wave, the truth is that at all times they were clear that in order to stand out they had to experiment and give the recipes a twist: “our intention was to avoid the tendency to always use Citra and Mosaic . For us, it is very important that in addition to producing a good product, it is also something different”. They also apply that same theory to the rest of the styles they make, such as the Sours, for which they usually use rare fruits, or the Imperial Stout, with ingredients such as organic cocoa from Ecuador.

As for the possibility of developing more classic and/or recurrent styles, Peter does not rule it out, especially at a time when they have just opened their own place in Barcelona: "eventually, for the taproom, we may do other styles, like some pale ales, a brown ale,… but at the level of cans, we haven't just seen it as interesting. Our idea is to continue betting on what we have been doing, experimenting with modern styles, not repeating ourselves, and launching new beers”.

FUTURE PLANS

If we look to the future, there is no doubt that the Animus project is exciting. Especially now that the post-pandemic world seems to be resurging. Among its most immediate plans would be the consolidation of the new project that we told you about earlier: W:UM, a space dedicated to craft beer and gastronomy located in Barcelona's Eixample Dreta (C/ Bruc, 82).

For the creation of W:UM, the members of the Animus team have been inspired by everything they dreamed of: a place open for everyone, familiar, a neighborhood hangout, with innovative vegetarian cuisine, their own and friends' beers on tap, specialty coffee, natural wines, homemade vermouth, kombucha, DJs, pairings, events, and many other proposals that we will discover. I must admit that I loved it. Both the place and the concept, that's why I strongly recommend that you go to visit them.

Another one of the next steps in the Animus Brewing project is to expand the distribution of its beers outside of Spain. But don't be in a hurry: “we are not anxious about our beers being available in other countries, if we can't get it to arrive in the best condition. In fact, we prioritize collaborating with breweries from other countries and brewing in their factories, thus guaranteeing that they are always fresh and in optimal conditions.”