Jordan Gardenhire

I am the Founder of Baja Brewing, A Craft Brewery Located In San Jose del Cabo which I founded in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, in 2007. In 2009 I created my flagship blond ale, Cabotella.

Living in Baja is an incredible experience, and my brewery is not only the rare Mexican brewery owned by an American; it is one of only about a dozen craft breweries that exist in a country known for consuming beers largely from major corporate brewers.

I grew up in Steamboat Springs and graduated from the University of Colorado. After working for a year in Denver for a painting-franchise company — a “suit-and-tie job” that didn’t fit me — I moved to Cabo in 2004, sold real estate and looked for my calling in the brewing industry.

Educating the Mexican population on craft breweries — especially the wide variety of beers they serve, rather than a concentration on light lagers — took time, but I found enough of a following to open two more locations in 2009 and 2011.

So, creating a Mexican beer company like Baja Brewing — which offers eight beers on tap, including an oatmeal stout an ale made with mango — is rare, to say the least.

Baja began bottling in 2009 and now is distributed across Mexico. It first crossed the border with distribution into south Texas in late 2012. Distribution of Cabotella Mexican cerveza has since increased to Arizona and Texas at markets & restaurants including Whole Foods, Sprouts, Northgate Markets, Chevys, El Carmen L.A., and Patrick Molloys,

Cabotella,is now Baja Brewing's best-selling beer.