Sometimes I’m a shitty beer writer. It might sound like I’m being too hard on myself, especially if you’re a fan (I must have a couple, right?). But how else can you explain that this is my first column on 5 Rabbit?
Today the core team at 5 Rabbit is cofounder Andres Araya, minority partner Randy Mosher, and head brewer John J. Hall, who was hired away from Goose Island in September 2012. (Because 5 Rabbit began by contract brewing, it didn’t open its own facility till shortly after Hall came aboard.) Mosher played a major role in devising the brewery’s first recipes, but now the development process is more collaborative—though Araya thinks up most of the ideas, everybody pitches in. The recipe for Arroz con Leche came from Adam Stull, one of the four brewers working under Hall; Araya guesses it went through three pilot batches to reach its final form.
Arroz con Leche launched at the brewery on January 31 and arrived at 5 Rabbit’s distributor, Louis Glunz, about a week later. The beer began hitting stores around February 9, and it’s still widely available, thanks in part to its $12.99 price tag (subject to retailer prerogative, of course), which has no doubt stayed the hand of a few curious shoppers. It’s part of the Las Chingonas series of large-format 25.4-ounce bottles, which began a couple years ago with a Belgian-style golden ale called Huitzi (brewed with hibiscus flowers, ginger, palm sugar, and honey) and also includes Yodo con Leche and Ponche.
