‘La Grilla’: the new Mexican beer brewed from crickets

Mexican business owners have developed “La Grilla”, a beer brewed from insects, to advocate for the controversial usage of these creatures as a climate crisis solution.

This novel idea of utilizing crickets as an ingredient for beer was conceived in Querétaro, central Mexico, as a collaboration between Santena, a firm that provides various insect-based foods, and Cervecería Punto Medio, a local beer production company.

The project was initiated when Patricio Gutiérrez, CEO of Santena, proposed the concept of incorporating crickets in beer to Alejandro Rivera, a co-founder of Cervecería Punto Medio.

Gutiérrez’s aim was to demonstrate how such ingredients could be incorporated into regular diets in innovative and flavorful ways.

Consequently, they decided to attempt cricket use in beer brewing. The collaboration was expanded to include Cervecería Arellano, another Mexican start-up known for employing unconventional ingredients in its brewing process.

After extensive research and experimentation, they discovered that the taste of crickets resembled barley or rye. They decided to replace a portion of the grain typically used in beer brewing with crickets.

Opting for a dark porter beer, they roasted the crickets to substitute for 5% of the roasted malt typically used, which gave the beer its rich, dark color and coffee or cocoa-like notes.

Alejandro Bruna, co-founder of Griyum, the farm supplying the insects, highlighted the cricket’s umami flavor due to an amino acid called glutamate, which intensifies the flavor of the beer.

Gutiérrez elaborated that the purpose of their company, Santena, is to create nutrient-rich and sustainable foods.

Insects were chosen as a primary ingredient in their products due to their abundance and high protein content, and the sustainability they offer in comparison to livestock, which contributes significantly to greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation.

Gutiérrez concluded that the project aimed to demonstrate that insects could be a valuable and nutritious addition to diets, and to create a unique, representative product of Mexican culture.