Slow Baja - Jeremy DeConcini MotoSonora Brewing Company

Episode Date: July 11, 2024

Meet Jeremy DeConcini, the co-founder of Motosonora Brewing Company in Tucson, Arizona. This unique taproom, inspired by road trips, features a rotating art collection that pays homage to iconic races like the Carrera Panamericana, Baja 1000, and East African Safari Rally. With its Moto Mondays and frequent automotive events, Motosonora is not just a place to enjoy world-class beers but also to showcase your classic sports car or vintage 4x4, like my old Toyota FJ40. We’ve collaborated to launch Slow Baja Mexican Lager, a must-try for scorching summer days and is on tap for a limited time only. In this Slow Baja Conversation, we discuss his African travels with his brother Jeff, which formed the genesis for the brewery. He shares an epic adventure from the 90s, a Baja trip with his father and three teenage brothers, which resulted in a hospital trip and a few broken bones. Buckle up, crack open a cold one, and enjoy the ride. Learn more about Motosonora here. Get your Baja insurance here. More information on Slow Baja Adventures.

Hey, this is Michael Emery. Thanks for tuning into the Slow Baja. This podcast is powered by Tequila Fortaleza, handmade in small batches, and hands down my favorite tequila. You know, I've long said it. Ask your doctor if Baja's right for you. If you've been hankering to get down to Slow Baja,

you've got to check out the Adventures tab at Slow Baja.com. All my trips are there from my vintage extravaganzas in summer and fall. And, of course, your meals are included on the fall trip. Good dirt roads, private campsites, ranch days, great food and great people. Let me tell you about my winter 2025 expedition. You know, that's already on the calendar, winter 2025. That's for you folks with the new stuff, all those folks, the complainers who tell me they don't have anything old, but they want to come with me. Well, the winter expedition is for you.

We've got whale watching. we've got beach camping, and once again, that is open to trucks of any age. The common denominator on all these trips, they're small, they're immersive. We go slow. We say hello. Well, to find your trip, check out the Adventures tab at slowbaha.com. Now, stay tuned because I'm going to be adding some non-motorized adventures soon. So who's ready to go on a mule packing trip with me in the mountains above Loretto?

You know, I just went, and I can't wait to share a super, super slow. Baja experience with you. And just so you know, I'm always open to help you with your Baja trip planning. And if you'd like me to organize and lead a private guided tour, I've done it. I loved it. All the pictures, all the information, all the deets are over there at slowbaha.com slash adventures. Or just hit me up at slowbaha.com slash contact. Hey, big thanks to those of you who've contributed to our Baja baseball project. You know, we launched our gear deliveries on my winter expedition. Michael and Matthew from Barbers for Baja were along for the ride,

and we got to deliver that critically needed baseball gear up and down the peninsula. It was really, truly amazing. And on my last trip, I got to go to the state baseball championships and see some of our alums playing, some recipients of the Baja Baseball Gear Deliveries. And congratulations to Guerrera Negro and Mulehe, the Ostenaros, and the Cardinalitos won silver and bronze at the state championships. Big stuff. It's really fun to be there and fun to see them. All right, well, please help us continue this vital work. Make your tax-deductible donation at the Barbers for Baja.com. Click barbers for Baja.org. Click the baseball in Baja link.

And I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I really do. It is so amazingly gratifying to be able to give these kids this chance to keep playing this sport keep them on the field keep them out of trouble please check it out baseball in bahaw link at barbers for baha.org thank you hey thanks for tuning in to today's slow bahaha my heaping dose of gratitude goes out to rob tiger rob is a well-known guy in the land cruiser world he uh he races a 1967 fj 45 which is a truck that looks like mine but it's a pickup truck version and rob is an amazing dude. He retired and thought he would build his old FJ45 into a race truck. I thought he was coming to Baja with me in the slow Baja class, but it turns out he did the King of Hammers. If you can believe that, and the Mint 400. Well, anyways, after my super slow Baja summer vintage,

I had a suspension problem. One of the leafs in my front suspension, the springs in my front suspension, one of the leaps broke. And I'd been trying to get my truck into C. Rob for quite a while. He's doing some amazing stuff with his truck. I just thought it was good. You know, I kind of feel like I'm playing Russian roulette with my truck, taking all these trips to Baja. And I don't really have a land cruiser specialist getting their hands on it regularly now that's living down in San Diego. And anyways, got it in to see Rob and found all sorts of expensive problems.

So Rob, Tiger, thank you, Amigo. He's got new suspension. parts coming. Unfortunately, there's a failure in the installation of my ARB suspension a couple years ago, a race prep shop down in Ensonado, which will remain unnamed. Anyways, they over tightened everything and the suspension was chewing itself up and damaging the frame at the same time. So we've got some welding work to do. We've got some new suspension parts on order, and Rob is getting it all sorted out properly. And I'm sincerely looking forward to drive. driving that truck with a properly working suspension. I can't wait for that. Anyways,

Rob, you are my heaping dose of gratitude this week. Anyways, on to today's show. You know, I did a collaboration with the good fellas, Jeff and Jeremy, the DeContini brothers at Motosanora Brewery in Tucson, Arizona. They released a slow Bahama Mexican lager and they made this Mexican lager. I don't want to say to my specs, but I told them, listen, I don't always drink beer, but when I do, it's usually a Mexican lager. And I told them the ones I liked and the ones I didn't, and they crafted a beer that's damn good. So if you're down in Tucson, you've got to stop by Modo Sonora and have an ice cold, slow Baja Mexican lager on tap and maybe pick up a six-pack or two to bring home with you. There's a limited number of cases that have been canned up. And I've

shared quite a bit of them up at Overland Expo and with some friends in San Diego. And anyways, if you're at Modosanora Brewery in Tucson, Arizona, check it out because every beer that they pour on tap, they do drop a taco in Slow Baja's tank. And let me tell you, my tank is quite empty. And I've got some expensive repairs that I alluded to earlier. So without further ado, today's show, Jeremy DeConcini, we're talking Modo Sonora. We're talking brewing beer. We're talking Baja Adventure. And, of course, among other things, beer.

Talk to me, Jeremy. How do you like this distance on the mic? I like that distance on the mic. Have you ever led a band? No, but I've always wanted to. I'm mean on karaoke. I'm terrible at it, but I just love it. Well, I think you sound pretty sultry.

All right. I've got my very white voice on. Saludos, Amigo. Cheers. It's slow Baja. in beautiful Tucson, Arizona, and I'm with Jeremy DeCuncini, and we're at Modo Sonora, and we're drinking a little Mexican lager, the new Slow Baja Mexican Lager, and I'm pretty stoked about this. We had a sample last night. I'm going to have a sample right now. Look at this big

poor, holy Toledo. It's a low AVB, ABV, you'll be all right. Oh, man, that's good. Wow, that's really good. That's really good. We got it right here, right here. Come and get some. Some on tap in the can. Jeremy, why don't you tell me the story of this amazing brewery? You and your brother, Jeff, were traveling and drinking beers and thinking about the world in vehicles. And this happened. Yeah, that's kind of how it went down. We had gone to Africa in 2010, my brother and I and a bunch of other people.

And we'd rented various different sort of overland rigs. Some of us had Land Rover defenders. Some of us had Toyotas, and we were going through these various different Southern African countries. And for those who don't know, Africa had a huge German immigrant population back in the day. So it has a pretty vibrant beer. Yeah, it's like a legit beer industry in Africa. And we really didn't know that and weren't expecting it. And so we were just driving around and talking and invariably at the end of the day.

You know, the campfire talk was always about our adventures and the food and the cars and what went wrong with your car. and oh, my car is great, your sucks, whatever, and everyone was comparing just sort of as guys do. And we also ended up talking about the various different beers. Oh, where did you get that? Oh, we picked this up in Namibia, you should try it. Oh, this one is imported from Kenya. It's great, or maybe it wasn't great, but whatever.

And so we just sort of came up with this notion that overland travel, and that includes just road trips and just sort of adventurous travel. Generally, the beer is an integral part of the fabric of that journey. And so we started talking about how great it would be to say, someday have a place where you could capture that essence and bring those beer styles to life. And that's sort of the genesis of Motosur brewing. You know, and that was 2010. So it was a long time before we were able to pull it all together and end up here where we are now in the beer garden.

But that was sort of the major inflection point where we decided to make it happen. And you've been open here for four years. Correct. So you timed it perfectly with COVID. Oh, sweet, man. We had a soft opening. And on Tuesday they shut everything down. Oh, yeah.

I mean, it was gelatinous. opening half the people who were coming to town canceled it was it was terrible I mean we had we genuinely had this conversation the next week where it was like guys should we just mail the keys to the bank right now like if we're gonna go bankrupt anyway we're gonna just do it today rather than suffer for three years and all the stress and everything and the guys were like no let's let's we got this let's fight it out and and four years later here we are and despite the turmoil no no regrets we're we're I'm pretty happy to be here and sitting with

you and in the beer business and drinking this logger. Yeah. Hey, we're back. We had to take a quick break so I could adjust the camera and get all my lines straight. Doug Ogden is helping me out here filming this. Good old friend. Nice to see him in another state and another place. Sorry, he's not in his old land rover. But Jeremy, you're saying about the opening timing-wise probably couldn't have been worse, but you've powered through it and you've got a beautiful place here. So talk about the theme of this brewery in this brew pub and how that relates to your life? Well, so like we said, or like I just said, we were talking about how beer and travel are kind of

one of these, you know, they're just sort of, they're completely integrated. And so that was, you know, craft beer is kind of a local thing. And it has to have a brand that's authentic. And because we have traveled so much and drank so many beers and so many different places. So many local beers, so many real beers, so many beers, so many beers of the, You know, you're not out there drinking bud lights. No, no, of course not. You know, and I've told this story before, and apologies to anyone who's heard me tell it over and over again.

But if I go to the Tucson airport today and have a Budweiser, I jump on a plane and fly to Chicago and have a Budweiser when I land. My body went 2,000 miles through space, but did I really go anywhere? Whereas if I take your FJ 40 and drive Route 66 from here to Chicago, there's going to be some beers along the way. There's going to be some adventure. There's going to be some weather changes, bad, you know, good, bad, all of it. And that's going to be something you're going to remember.

and that's going to be part of your life forever. Whereas that flight, you know, if you remember it at all, it's going to be because someone was next to you, you know, bugging you or something, you know, it's not going to be a great, great memory. So when, and beer is, beer is like that. Partly it's just the nature of the beer production and that, and that beer does not necessarily travel that well.

The best beer is closest to the brewery. So as you travel, your beer choices tend to get better the closer you are to those individual breweries. And that's, that's, and we, that was a theme. that we thought was amazing and would work great for us and it's authentic because we love that kind of travel and that kind of adventure and we love we love beer obviously and the various different styles and sometimes you can even bring that a little bit of that into your heart here because of the theme of the place if you come in and you look at a really cool vintage racing

post picture that Doug took and you have a beer style from you know some place in europe but you know maybe it's Germany you know obviously there's a lot of German beers and you think of the Erbergring or whatever, you know, you can actually take a little bit of a mental trip while you're here. It's a little bit of like a kind of a fantasy land we tried to create here. Sorry. One top of the glass was in the edge of the frame. Yeah, so I'd sent a message last night. We had a sample of the Mexican Lager, the new Slow Baja Mexican Lager.

And I have a classic car buddy here in Arizona who drives the beautiful copper. state rallies, a guy who Mike Krista Dulo, who I met on the Copper State, well-connected Arizona Bud, great cars. And I said, you've got to get over to Modus Sonora and check out the new Slow Baja beer. And he's like, how do I not know about an automotive themed adventure drive-themed brew pub? We tried to get them here. The Copper State Rally just came through here. And I don't know what happened. Maybe they had too many breakdowns. They were staying out at Star Pass. And the organizer, Dave, I think, was trying to get some of the people down here who were in the rally. But they, I think they must have had a tough day.

Maybe it was hot. And they were kind of ensconced. And I think we got to, the copper state guys have been really cool to us in terms of giving us all kinds of cool social media stuff. They take, we donate beer to them sometimes. And they invariably send us cool pictures. I posted one of a Ferrari Daytona with our super leggeridic. Yeah, I saw that. So we have a little bit of a relationship with them.

But I haven't been able to get them to parade through here yet. But one of these years, I'm going to make it happen. Well, I think based on my drive this morning with your next door neighbor, Marcus, at Sonoran Rover, who's coming with us on our camp out. We'll talk about that in a minute. I think we're going to start our next adventure in Arizona here at the brewery. So we'll have a good party. We've got your taco lady all dialed in. We've got some Mexican lager.

And that'll be the pre-party before we take off and do what we're doing. So we're going to pre-run an event tomorrow. I love this. So you can write it off. In case your accountant's checking, you can write off our adventure. This is legit. So back to the trip to Africa, where this brewery was hatched, how does that adventure fit in your life? I mean, you've traveled a lot.

We're going to talk about Baja in a minute, but where does Africa? I mean, I've had the great fortune of being in Africa twice. And a dear friend of mine who was in the Peace Corps in Africa said, when you go to Africa, you just come back laughing. Like you just laugh at the world. Does that, I mean, how do you translate that adventure that spawned this business enterprise? And maybe that's too deep a question, but dig in. Well, yeah, man. It's sort of cliche, you know, people say you go to Africa and it kind of changes you.

But that 100% was my experience, you know, it was, it was. It was profound and deep. And it was just a completely different way of living. It was similar to Baja a little bit, you know, and that you're in this sort of frontier kind of world. But because of the history, the profound human history there, you know, the origin of us, kind of. And then the recent history of, you know,

the native Africans and European colonialism and everything, it's just this crazy melange. And then you throw the animals on top of it. it. It's amazing, isn't it? Yeah. And you're, you know, the crazy thing just, it messes with your perspective a little bit, because if you look at a map and you're going, oh, well, there's a, there's a, there's a highway

that goes kind of through the Kalahari here. And then when you get there, it's not a highway. It's a, it's a two, you know, two track into the bush and on the map, it looks like this big thick line. And you're like, oh, okay. So there's a, there's a, even the guys who are writing these maps, think of what roads differently than I do, because if that was the states, it would be a four lane interstate.

And so you go, okay, you have to sort of adjust your perspective and adjust your expectations. And, you know, it's funny, we rented this rig. The car that, the truck that Jeff and I had was just a Toyota high lux, but it had been fitted with a thousand mile fuel tank. And we had picked it up in Johannesburg, but the company that we rented it from had driven it from Namibia. And we drove it for a month, slept in it, multiple ripped tires, repaired the tires, replaced the tires, you know, covered in dust, you know, through the trees. I mean, we weren't super nice to this thing. I mean, we didn't want to break down, but we used it properly. And then after a month.

As expected. Yeah, as designed and as expected. And then when we showed up at the airport, they're like, well, in Johannesburg again, guy comes from Namibia, goes to look at it, walks around with this clipboard, goes, good job. And then it takes off. And, you know, it was, that's a very different thing. Yeah. Than, you know, the United States or Europe or anything like that where, you know, everyone's just kind of,

I mean, despite the dangers of traveling in Africa of just, you know, being out in remote areas and things like that, there was a level of of humanity and trust there that I think is kind of similar to Baja where if you're broken down people help you or whatever it's not because of the heightened risks associated with being you know out in the middle of nowhere people tend to to help each other we we had a friend we had to come back for some reason and we had a friend who wanted to hitchhike into Namibia and we're like okay dude so we drop him off on the map again fooled again an intersection of what looks like two big highways. It's just, and when we get there, it's, they're paved, but it was two, it was just a T

surrounded by dirt, no gas station, no nothing. And so we just drop him off and we hit south and he had his own adventure getting to Namibia pitchhiking with a bunch of different people, but to try and send good karma his way, we picked up every hitchhiker we could between there and whatever the capital of Botswana is. Anyway, it was, it was eight hour drive. And, you know, we picked, got people up. don't speak English. These are these are native Africans. They get in the car and we assume we're

going to the capital because there's nothing on this road. And we're driving along after an hour, they start waving frantically. No, this is where you stop. There's some, there was some ability for them to know that, oh yeah, the village is this way. You pull off, they jump out and they just walk into the desert. They just walk in. Yeah. And I mean, this is where elephants and lions and everything. And these guys are just like, that's just their life. And so it's a very huge perspective shift, you know, compared to growing up in the United States. Does that blow up your, your mind as an attorney, as a former federal agent, does that just explode your head? A little bit, a little bit.

It almost, it almost. Simulating risks that other people live with all the time. Yeah, yeah. I mean, maybe it's similar as a Fed, I sort of assumes a heightened level of risk compared to your average accountant. So I was kind of maybe, I found it very satisfying. And maybe that's just a personality quirk. Maybe there are people who want to stay in the shade and don't let anything weird happen.

And then there are some people who are like, you know, what's, what's over that hill there? And is there a weird animal? And should I be afraid of it? I don't know. Let's go look. And so there's, I think a lot of people in Africa just don't have the choice. That's just how they live. But for someone like me, it was very intoxicating, you know, to just go out and live by your wits.

And, you know, I mean, I had a thousand mile, you know, range Toyota. So it's not, I'm not exactly barefoot. For the record, for the record, Slobaha has 150 on the original tank. And I carry two jerry cans, which gets me about 250, which has covered me everywhere I've ever needed to go. And when I needed that second gas tank after I drove out to seven sisters once in Baja, I pulled that gas tank and realized it was empty. So I had to actually get back on a wing in a prayer. But, yeah, 200 miles is about my range where I start getting uncomfortable and slow Baja.

And that's impressive because, you know, Baja, even now, fuel is still an issue. You know, the old rule of thumb was get gas everywhere you can. And you know what? Again, Baja has changed a little bit. Maybe it's a little easier than it used to be. So there are more gas stations. The Pemex doesn't have the full lockdown that it used to. So there are other VP.

There's Chevron. There are other competitors. So there are other gas stations. But there are still a couple of places where there aren't gas and you're going to need gas there. And so you're going to see Ernesto and he's going to put gas in your tank in Catavina. But interestingly, I was in search of diesel recently, had some friends with a, hey, we're good. Jeff, don't worry, man. We're good.

Yeah, I can't hear it. Hey, and I'm just going to make a quick announcement here for you listening at home. That hiss that is in the background are the misters here at Modosanora Brewery. It's 90 something something degrees here, 92, 94, 95, something like that. We're in the shade. We've got the misters going. and hopefully you've tuned that hiss out. But we're at an active working brewery.

You've got a fella here. He's got a great cactus tattoo on his arm. He's got a pit bull, brindled pit bull, and they're playing a little ball, drinking a beer. And, you know, I hope you're feeling like you're sitting right down here next to me. And if you do come to Modosanora Brewery in Tucson, you're going to be able to get Slow Baja Mexican Lager on tap, and there will probably be a can or two hanging around

because I don't think I can actually carry the fifth. 50 cases of this stuff that you've canned up. I don't think I'm going to be able to carry all that back to, well, I'm taking it up to Flagstaff first of all, and then I'm taking it to San Diego with me after that. So there will be a few cans for you folks to take home and drink this wonderful beer.

Really, you know, again, I've told you, I'm a tequila guy, but this is damn good beer. It goes down nice and easy. Thanks, man. I mean, I'm sure every brewery owner says this, but we were really trying to make the best beer we possibly can. And the logger game is tricky, so I'm glad this one turned out that.

Yeah, and again, my beer drinking extends to the loggers and that's it. Again, I have some allergic reaction to something in beer as they get darker and hopier and whatever. I get, you know, to the point where I can't drink them. So anyways, this is lovely and enough about my beer problems. Well, I was having nightmares about this beer because you never know until it's done what it's going to turn out like. You know, and if you screwed up somewhere along the way, you've got to dump it. And that's totally fine under normal circumstances. But because we had a deadline, I was like, oh, man, let's go, man.

Let this thing turn out good. So can we talk a little bit about the process of actually creating a beer, the profile? Sure. I mean, we walked through it last night. We're going to do it after the podcast is over here. Let's talk about how you craft a beer. What goes into that? And then we're going to get back to Baja.

I promise you, folks, I promise you we are going to get back to Baja. But let's talk about what goes into crafting a Mexican lager or an IPA or whatever. All right. Well, so, you know, the nice thing about beer, you know, I consider myself a sharp guy, but the reality is beer is hundreds of years old, if not thousands of years old. And on some level, you're standing on the shoulders of giants, you know, particularly, you know, the English and the Irish and the Belgians and the Germans who really kind of figured out beer. So if you really want to know how to craft something, you start by looking to history, you know,

so you have guideposts along the way. It's like a map. And so, you know, to make a Mexican laager, you have to look to the Mexicans, obviously. And because it's similar to Africa where Mexico had a ton of German immigrants, and that's why it has such a strong, you know, industrial beer industry. Now Mexico's crap beer industry is starting to come up too now. So you look at what the original style was that the Germans had brought to Mexico and then how the Mexicans had changed it.

And so it's basically a German product through a Mexican lens. And so that's how you approach it from a philosophical standpoint. And then you have to, from there, you kind of take it apart material by material and go, okay, well, how can I do this and be true to what I'm trying to do, but also make it our own and slightly unique. I mean, you don't want to, you want to be respectful of history. Like, you don't want to come up and do something. You're not trying to copy a major brand. No, no, no. I'm not saying.

Let's just try and make a tecate. Yeah. No, it's like, well, how do you, how do you make this emoto sonora beer, but also be respectful of the people who came before you and also learn. from them and and and I think brewing beer this may be a little heavy-handed but I think it's a responsibility we have a responsibility to tradition but we also have a responsibility to try and innovate or at least make make something that's that that other people aren't tasting otherwise why I would just go buy beer you know if we're gonna make it yeah you have to make it your own there's a cheaper alternative it's right there in every 7-11 yeah exactly way cheap yeah so you have to

bring some magic to the formula and you've brought some so so walk me through what happens from the grain that comes in and how that transfers to this. Okay. Well, I'll give, yeah, I'll give sort of that this could be a three-day lecture because there's a lot of sex. I'm going to break into the one in the back here

so people can't see it. There's a lot of science and biochemistry to it. And, you know, microbiology, but the truth is that if you've ever heard the phrase from grain to glass, it's kind of like from farm to table.

Sounds good. That was for you, folks. You know, you start with barley generally, speaking. There's also wheat beers and you know, you usually start with European two row barley or in certain cases in the Americas, six row barley. I'm going to try not to get too down on the weeds and keep you guys engaged. Basically, you take this barley that's gone through a process called malting, which I won't get into, end up with a malted barley. We run it through a mill, which cracks open the kernel and allows access to the starches there in that kernel. So yet you run all this barley through a mill and then put it in this giant vessel called a mash ton. You've soaked. it there in hot water, you make like a tea sort of thing and that sort of converts those starches

into fermentable sugars. And so you end up with this super like almost looks like a bowl of oatmeal, like super watery oatmeal that you end up with that's very sweet tasting. You transfer the liquid out into the next vessel, which is called a boil kettle, and you're left with that grain. And now people often ask what we do with that grain, we feed it. It's still got a ton of nutrition and it usually goes to farmers that pick it up and take it out of here. We have farmers that come and take it. Big industrial breweries, I think you have to pay to take it away, but we're lucky enough that we're small and we can find a use for that for some animals. Then you start boiling that liquid that's now in the boil kettle. And what that does is it kills any microorganisms

that we're living on that. This is just like Africa. We've got one we got one fly that really says, you know what, this guy tastes so good. He's got having a beer. He tastes like Mexican lager, slow Baja. I want that guy. So you boil, you boil that sweet liquids, which is called a whart. A lot of the brewing terminology comes from the Germans. So there are things called, thank you. Vorloff, sparge, wart, like all these strange sounding names to us, but that's just the terms of art that we use in brewing. Anyway, so you have this wart and you boil it that kills all the microorganisms that are on there. And that's when you start adding hops. And hops originally were used as an antimicrobial.

Pre-hop European beer, they would use dandelions. They were just kind of flavoring them, trying all kinds of different things. People still make that kind of beer, and they call it Gruet. I've never had one, or I've never had a good one, so I don't know what it's supposed to taste like. I've never had one. I've never had a good one. And, you know, the hops also added flavor, even though that wasn't the original design. And, you know, the earlier, during the boiling process, the earlier you add them in, the more bitterness they add, the later you add them in, the more aromatics and flavor they add.

And then a side note, you know, for the people who are fans of IPAs, it stands for India Pale Ale. And the story of that beer was that when the English were making beer for export to their colony in India, because of the antimicrobial hopper. properties of hops they loaded them up with hops it would survive the voyage in those wooden barrels and then as it turned out people really liked hops and then they started selling them domestically and then the american craft brewers took hold and just blew that up but back to the boiling and the hops after that you run it's coming out of their boiling hot you run it through a heat exchanger drops it to fermentation temperature which for an ale is about 68 degrees for a logger it's about 52 degrees and now you have the super sweet liquid going into a fermentation vessel

which you'll see later. And the old brewing saying is that brewers make warts, that liquid coming out of there. So that's where all the brewing is done. And the real workhorse there is the yeast. Yeast makes the beer. So this microorganism you throw into that fermenter, it starts eating those sugars and turning them into carbon dioxide and alcohol. And then when that's done, you have beer.

So I'm sorry if that was a little long winded. No, it's good. And this beer is great. Thank you. No, but I think that's an interesting thing that, you know, again, this magic comes. And this magic has been around for centuries. It does feel like magic. No, it's magic.

I got to tell you, it's magic. And the Europeans, before they knew how yeast worked, they thought it was God. Because they would make this liquid. They would open a window and magically to them or spiritually, religiously, whatever, it would turn into alcohol and turn into beer. So before we knew what those single-celled organisms were called yeast, it was God. Yeah. We're going to take a moment here, take a break.

And I'm going to tell you about Baja bound insurance. and if you're heading to Mexico and you're driving, you're going to need Mexican insurance. And my wreck is Baja Bound. I've been with him since 2006. It is their 30th anniversary. Go with the best. Baja Bound will be right back with Jeremy D. Conchini at Moto Sonora. And I'll have four or five more beers before this podcast is over.

So stick around. It's going to get fun. Here at SLOBA, we can't wait to drive our old land cruiser south of the border. When we go, we'll be going. with Baja Bound Insurance. Their website's fast and easy to use. Check them out at Bajaubound.com. That's Bajaubound.com serving Mexico travelers since 1994. You know, I don't always drink beer, but when I do, it's a slow Baja Mexican lager from my friends at Motosanora Brewing in Tucson, Arizona. If you're in Tucson,

hell, if you're anywhere in Arizona, get yourself over to Moto Sanoa Brewing. Order up an ice-cold, slow Baja Mexican lager. And if you love it, pick yourself up a six-pack to go. That's right. You can get it right there in the cooler. Right there at the brewery. That's Motosanora Brewing in Tucson, Arizona. Hey, we're back with Jeremy DeContini. We're at Motosanora. We're sipping this amazing Mexican, Slobaha, Mexican lager that Jeremy crafted for me. And I'm just so stoked to have this and have it here on tap and to have some beer to share at the Overland Expo. So let's talk about you and your relationship to adventure.

a lot of time. You're a surfer. You spend a lot of time in San Diego, a lot of time in Baja. Let's get on to some Baja stories. You have some. You went down as a kid with your dad. And I just want to hear about these stories, you know, stuff that just warms my heart. We talked a little bit about last night. I said, save it. I don't want to hear it now. I don't want to hear it twice. I think for me, Baja was inevitable. You know, I grew up in Tucson. And I actually, it was my brother who'd gone to well watching with my dad. But I was always going to mainland Mexico with my dad when I was a kid. And to me, that was some sort of magical place where they spoke this exotic language. And I could be 12 years old, sit at a table and order a beer and no one

don't think twice about it. And I was also, you know, and I partially blame Bruce Brown. I was everybody does. I was into dirt bikes and I watched on any Sunday religiously and I was into it. And then at some point, I stumbled across the endless summer. Yeah. And then it just screwed you up for life. Yeah, the me, I already loved Mexico. I knew that moment I was going to be a surfer and I was into dirt bikes and so like Baja was like a vortex it just sucked me in and so from there I I think I don't know if this was my first trip but my first big trip I convinced my brothers and my dad to take motorcycles all the way down the peninsula we were going to take a month and my dad was like okay I'll do it but you know I'm not riding a motorcycle for a month I'll

take a Jeep I'll carry all your stuff you guys ride the motorcycles and while I felt that it changed the trip a little bit it didn't mean I could bring a surfboard because that's the thing Loving motorcycles and loving surfing are kind of mutually exclusive situations. Yeah, you can't bring a motorcycle. You can't bring a surfboard on a motorcycle most times through Bah. I've seen people do it, but yeah, it makes the riding even more dangerous. Yeah, it's kind of limited. So we took off.

We actually, we left due south from here. And I don't know if they still run that ferry, but we took the ferry from Wymus to Santa Rosalia. Okay. And I remember, you know, I mean, we were kind of kooky then. We got to Wymas in the dark and we were camping. And we didn't really, we maybe was too late to set up camping gear. because I think we had tents, but we ended up sleeping on the ground and the bugs were crazy. I had this like, you know, a necker chip over my face to keep the bugs off and a cowboy hat crammed down on it.

It was a terrible night. That's the way we used to do it, folks. We used to just put something over our face and crammed down a cowboy hat and hope for the best. Right. I mean, it sounds nuts now. Anyway, and then we wake up in the morning, and because we've made camp in the dark, there were a bunch of dead horses around. No wonder where the bugs were. Yeah, it was great. So then we go down to the ferry dock and we're sitting there waiting on the ferry.

My Spanish was pretty bad then. And we figure out the tickets. And, of course, the ferry was late. And we're just sitting there. We finally, we get on the thing. And it had like a 10-degree list. And we just leave port like that. So Mexico.

Yeah. And if you look at all the photos from that time, on the deck of the boat, everyone's lined up. But in the background, the ocean looks tilted, right? Because we're all shooting like this. So we get to Santa Rosa. And this is 94. So, you know, Cabo wasn't what Cabo is now. And, I mean, most of Baja is relatively.

you know has is unchanged but cabo was one of those things that's just changed dramatically yeah last 30 years for yeah 20 years we camped we camped on the beach in front of zippers and paddled around to uh old mans and la roca and all those surf spots when i mean there were some people around maybe scattered houses but we're camping on the beach and that's it's all high rises now and so you know they were there for a month and that was another life changing one you know that sort of every time i don't know if you were like this but i always thought i would do this and just see how it would go and maybe I'd reach my limit and be like okay that was cool I guess I'm going back to my safe couch but you know each little bit of adventure just made that desire grow stronger like this

like I was talking about earlier there's a magnetic pull there was yeah for sure and so and then Baja between the waves and the off-roading and everything sucked me in from that point I mean until last year I mean it's I've just been going constantly since then some of the conversations we've had about the different places and what they've done over the year and in fact I wanted to ask you we were talking about shipwrecks in northern Baja, and I surfed there the first time, and I was just blown away by this ship that was intact at the time, this big beautiful ship that you surf around. Almost gone now, I hear. I guess that was what I was going to ask.

I went 10 years later and it had broken in half. It was still recognizably a ship, but it was deteriorating quickly because in my mind when I first rolled up there, it had probably been there a hundred years. You know what I mean? But it turns out, I think it was only been there. Yeah, he had 10 or 20 by the time I got there. Yeah. Hey, so let's talk about that trip with your dad.

You took your brother, your brother, Jeff, who's sitting right here out of the camera's view. But what the hell was dad thinking? Taking his boys to Baja for a month. How old were you guys? You know, I was 20. Jeff was 23. My younger brother was 18. My youngest brother was 16.

So we were not, you know, I mean, but my dad was kind of a wild, man. What a perfect time. Oh, it was incredible. 18, 20, 23. Yeah. LFG. Yeah. It was great.

It really was a great. experience. And, you know, it wasn't without trouble. My younger brother and I had a motorcycle collision. And I stayed, managed to keep it up. He went over his handlebars and he got pretty hurt. He had to go to the hospital in La Paz. And, you know, he's a, you know, totally survivable injuries. He broke his collarbone and some ribs and things like that. Bro his collarbone and some ribs. How did that get reported to mom? Can we just cut to that? Mom was not enthusiastic about this, this whole situation. She was not, not at all. But, you know, he had to fly home. He was done riding. And then we had to sort of rig his motor

cycle to the back of the Jeep to get it back. So we took the front wheel off, threw it on the roof, and then hooked up the front forks to the tailgate of the Jeep and just had this thing dragging behind it. The days before that you had the ubiquitous bike carrier on the front or on the back. Indeed. Yeah. They had nobody to dream that up yet, although it was in retrospect. It's the simplest thing in the world. Why would not have done that? So your brother had to fly home. Mom said, I told you so. Yeah, for sure. For sure. But not so much, you know, I think she was just happy to have them back. So it wasn't enough to keep us, you know, going down there and without too much trouble. I mean, I guess at that point we're adults. But yeah, I mean, I still have a good relationship with my

now. She's not, however angry she was at me about it, she's gotten over it. And we're just talking just after Mother's Day. We're Monday after Mother's Day. So it's good to know. Jeremy, you came out last night and took care of me. We had a couple beers here at the at the brewery. And then you got me in Sconson's in my hotel. So thank you for that, making some time on Mother's Day to do that. Karen, down at the end of the table. Hello. And Jeff's right here out of camera shot.

So we're going to start the rounding second base, heading to third and rounding third and heading for home here on the Slow Baja podcast. We have a little adventure coming up. Indeed. And you are in charge of the whole damn thing. I said to you today, what do I need to do? Like, I don't travel with food. I don't have water.

I don't like, what are we doing? Well, I farms. I'll be honest. I farmed some of it out to my brother. But yeah, the idea was... So we're on a camping trip. Correct. And we're with four vehicles plus mine now?

Might be five. Yeah, it might be five if Marcus shows. Yeah, we'll see Marcus, Norton Rover. We've got Jeff and Jeremy and Peter Wilkie. He's a blast from the past. A friend from another life when I used to be at Bring a Trailer. Peter Wilkie, I put in two separate movies in my life. He's a good guy.

He's a really good guy. He's going to be in his Land Rover defender, yeah? All right, so we're going to have an adventure. Can you talk about that for just a second? Yeah, we're going to take what's called the Arizona Backcountry Discovery Route, and I know this is... What's the acronym? AZBDR. We're going to do the AZBDR folks, and we're going to be drinking Modusonara Mexican

lager. And Peter Wilkie's going to be in charge of all the food, which is awesome because he owns Time Market, and he's a foodie and a foodie and a big. beer snob and he said this beer's good. Oh yeah and he's you know he's not even a Mexican lager guy and he's like he hates it he's a little nervous he hates it. He drank it. I don't think he'd lie to me. I think he generally liked it. It's good for sure. Yeah and luckily you know the the AZBDR runs through Flagstaff which is where the Overland Expo is so you know when we started talking about this Arizona overland trip and we looked at the route I was like oh this is perfect.

So we're going to leave here tomorrow morning head to Benson Arizona the full AZBDR goes border to border. We will not be doing that, but we'll be going from Benson to Flagstaff, excuse me, over a couple of nights. And it's just a four by four route through the state of Arizona. I think there are BDRs at this point through almost all of the western states now that thankfully some brilliant motorcyclists came up, just tried to link a trail through a state, you know, without touching the minimal amount of pavement as possible. And one of the coolest parts of this trip that we're going to go is up the Mogi on race. and that road kind of switch backs up.

And from the photos I've seen, or at least I think I've seen, because I've never done this route before. Fair warning, we're kind of winging it. Nor have I. Nor have I. I think it's going to be amazing. And luckily, my brother was willing to really get behind the route planning. I was like, Jeff, this is the goal.

I'm like, can you give us some ideas about like what we need to do? He's like, all right, here's where, you know, he loves maps. He gets in and goes, I think we can camp here. We have two choices. We go here or here. This one has a creek, you know, with a cool running water. It's going to be amazing. This one has a, you know, he has a camp here.

campground maybe you know we'll see which way we want to go and so we'll just have to make some decisions on the fly i mean it will be sort of a little bit improvised travel you know and that i think is so important in a world now where we have every answer to every question that you could ever conceive of and there is a facebook group and you know an app of something to tell you everything that you might want to know it's hard to actually have an adventure now with all the information that's out there. For sure. You kind of have to say that, you know,

your adventure isn't just an adventure that you're rins and, you know, rins and repeating from somebody else. Right. So let's get on to that for a second. So Africa, Baja, with your brother breaking his collarbone going around the handlebars of a motorcycle

and what mom must have thought once he, you know, once she got the word of what the hell happened there. Why is adventure important? Why is it important to you? For me, and I assume for a lot of people like me or maybe like us, you know, I think it is is truly how you feel alive. I think because, you know, we're an intellectual species. We're able to read and write and do all kinds of create our environment. We have misters.

You know, we have music. We can build whatever we want. Yeah, totally. And so to get into an unpredictability. Well, that's a nice thing surfing. Surfing's kind of like that too because the ocean is incredibly unpredictable. So when you go surf, you're at the hands of the universe in a lot of ways, you know, from the solar energy that created the wind that created the waves to the marine life that may or may not find you snackable.

You know, so adventure is the same way where it makes you feel alive, you know, just being out there and being in an unpredictable way. I think humans, or at least humans like us, you know, if you take away all the unpredictability, I find that creates anxiety. You know, I need to be in a slightly unpredictable environment and on an unpredictable quest. and, you know, I'm still human. And so there's maybe this sort of hero's journey thing. I mean, anyone's ever read The Odyssey. I mean, at least, like I said, and people like us, you read it and you're like, that sounds kind of cool.

Like Cyclops? Exactly. That's rad. You know what I mean? I hear you. Spent some time with the Lotus Eaters? Let's got fun. So, yeah, I think that's what it is.

To me, it makes me feel alive. And to, to, and the risk, it's no risk, no reward. So it's possible we could have a breakdown, you know, when we're gone. And maybe somebody. could get bitten by a snake. I'm hoping none of these things happen. We're going to try and we're going to be smart and we're going to be safe. But at the same time, you know, that's, it's out there. And it's something we've never done before. We have toe straps and tequila. Yeah. And we'll have a lot of this modus andoran Mexican lager, the slow Baja Mexican lager. So I think when we'll get through it,

I feel confident that we'll get through it. Although, you know what? I got to tell you, I haven't spent a lot of time camping in the United States. And I never camp when it's 90 degrees. So I think we're going to be okay. I'm a little. I'm a little. worried more worried than I would be to go into remote parts of Baja I'm a little worried to be going out hanging out with you guys but you've got a Porsche Kyan so I think I can I think hang with you anyways it's on street tires to exactly and that car is more capable than you think no I know I know I mean I listen on the Baja XL rally I was with a couple of Kyanns and they were

amazing okay oh so you yeah you see me these were Kians that have been bought on the cheap and had been ridden hard and ridden hard through MET and through Baja and the folks who owned them really had a great time. So I've seen what they can do, but I think they will be fine. Yeah, I mean, as a side note, as a Porsche guy, and you're a former race driver, you know, I think.

Generous, thank you. Yeah, he's like, oh, God. I think Porsche really knew what they were doing when they built that car, despite their sort of mediocre looks. They're incredibly capable vehicles. So bring it home for me, Jeremy. We've talked about a lot of things here Africa, how you came up with the brewery, some Baja adventures.

We haven't talked enough about Baja, but folks who are coming here to Tucson or folks who are in Tucson who want to find you, modusanora.com. Correct, yeah. Website, motosanora.com at modusenora brewing on Instagram. And we are on Facebook, although mostly I just kick everything from Instagram to Facebook. I think you could probably call me a Luddite on some level. that I'm not awesome at social media. However, the good news about that is I'm the guy who answers all the responses on Instagram and on the website.

Yeah, I know. You are fully present. You are on top of it. And I'm not good at like, you know, work-life separation. So you can pay me on the weekends. I'm probably available. No, you've been very generous as far as staying in touch with me. Close it up.

Why the hell did you make a slow-baha Mexican lager? What intrigues you about this collaboration? and I'm being a little self-serving here, but I'm just tickled that we're sitting here drinking this magnificent beer at your magnificent brewery, and I'm going to, you know, ask you to say, what the hell's wrong with you? Well, that's easy.

I mean, I was a fan of the show, and I can't remember which episode it was, but you were talking about sort of, you know, paper maps and people overplan and overdo everything, and I was just like, it really spoke to me, and I reached out. I was like, you know, I think we're kind of sympatico here,

and you know I'm a beer guy I'm a Mexico guy and I have a factory available you know is there some way that we could do something cool and you know yes is my my default answer right I press the yes button yeah so I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm just I'm just incredibly pleased at what you're doing I mean quite frankly the work you're doing and and the show which I listen to all the time I'm just I just I couldn't be happier to participate with you guys with you I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm I, on this project. Sorry, Karen was offering us another beer. Yes, the answer is yes, Karen. Sorry. You saw my glasses. Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Karen.

Thank you, Karen. Look, you know, for the photos that'll hit Instagram after this adventure. You'll see the various participants behind the camera here. Do you see this big slow pour? That's pretty good. Trying. Look at the bubbles. That's right.

You know, I'm looking for a job, Jeremy. You got anything going on here at the brewery? I mean, we're always hiring bartenders. Perfect. I can pour beer. I can't craft a cocktail, but I can pour beer. I'm going to pour the whole one in my... Yeah, go for it.

You look like you're doing all right over there. Yeah, yeah, I got a little time left on this one. And we're making a little... Cheers. Drinking and podcasting here, folks, on the slow Baja. You've said enough nice things about me. Let's get back to Baja. There have been some tough, fricking times in Baja in the last two weeks.

You're a surfer. Yeah. I'm assuming you're heading back to Baja sometime soon. I haven't written it off if that's the question. I'm hoping you're coming with me on a trip with Marcus and maybe find something more vintage than your Porsche. I've got a question, actually. You know, you're welcome to come in the Porsche on my winter trip because that's for vehicles of any age. I have a 1989 BMW 325 IX.

It's four-wheel drive. It has a limited slip rear dip, limited strip transfer case, but might not have the clearance. I have one spot open in the summer vintage. I think if you got a puck lift on that thing and got two inches of clearance, you're in. Okay. I think that car would be amazing. Just the deep, like the deep ruts in the sand might be a problem,

but I think it's a pretty cool. Yeah, we have some two-wheel drive postal jeeps coming on that trip with high school auto shop kids. And the interesting thing, again, so we're getting back to, I'm leading a class at the Overland Expo next weekend, about less is more. Less is more. So if you're a rancher in Baja, you've got a 40-year-old ranger on three bald tires with no suspension.

The suspension is totally shot. And you may be leaking some fluids. And you may be down one cylinder, frankly. And you certainly don't have all of your headlights and tail lights working. And so if you're starting there, which I always am to say, those are the, the guys who are driving the roads that we're going to drive, those are the guys who are driving those roads every damn day. 100%.

Your BMW? Was that the white one on the corner there? It caught my eye. Let me just tell you. It's parked around the folks. Folks, for the record, it's parked around the corner from the brewery at Sonoran Rover, and it's a beautiful white 325 IX. Is that what you said?

Correct. Yeah. And so it caught my eye as I was turning the corner and coming around the back of the brewery here. seriously if you put in a one or two inch lift on that or some all-terrain teeth with no lift you're fine okay sweet i mean i've taken it in some sand and it's done pretty well for me it was just to be about the clearance but i have a toast trap well and also that's the other thing like back to your point you know i used to joke about this i had the same story where you could be down in it was always baha and you could be in your

brand new toyota tacoma with your tents and all this stuff and you'll be in the middle of nowhere thinking you're kind of a badass and all of a sudden a toyota corolla with no doors would go by and and 11 people in it, and you're 100 miles off dirt between the next town. So I'm going to just, you know, be self-serving here. My very first off-road experience was in a Toyota Corona, which is a totally unknown car. My sister nicknamed it Charlie Brown because it had a brown, dark brown vinyl roof, and it was really kind of, you know, baby poop yellow. And all it needed was the brown striping that Charlie Brown had.

on this shirt but it was it had 165 14s street tires and I drove to the El Marmole El Marmole I think it's 22 miles each way on a dirt road to go check out the onyx mine and we didn't air down we didn't do anything special we didn't have GPS we didn't have satellite communications we had a cooler full of beer we We turned down a dirt road. We drove down 22 miles. We checked out an old onyx mine. We turned around and drove back.

And I tried to drive carefully. But, you know, it was probably, you know, well, I was probably 21 or 22 at the time. So I was also drifting. Yeah, you buried it in the carpet. I was also rally driving the thing, you know. And again, I think the whole idea of having Instagram tell you what you need to go to Baja is utterly false. Oh, totally.

I just learned today. I didn't know the story. My older brother went to Laguna San Ignacio to go whale watching with my dad when he was 10 years old in a 1967 El Camino. There is nothing worse for the sand than a car with a huge heavy V8 up front, no weight in the back and rear wheel drive. And they made it, you know. Interesting, the first Mexican 1000 had a, the Ford version, which is a Ranchero. So whatever that would have been, a 66 Ranchero came on that trip. I'm sure they just thought, well, this is a good place to put all the spares right in the back.

But nothing could have been worse. But in those days, they made it. They made it all the way down to La Pazas. If you go slow enough, you can make it. And I think that's where we're going to end it, folks. If you go slow enough and you have a good beer in the cooler, it's going to be just fine. So Jeremy, Dekoncini, thanks for making a little time for Slow Baja. Thank you very much for making this fabulous Mexican lager, the Slow Baja Mexican Lager.

We've got a full stack here. We've got some empties. We've got some fuls. We've got it all. Jeremy's cracking open another one here. The pop folks. If you come to the brewery and I sincerely hope you do, I know it's going to be a hot, hot summer,

so maybe you're not going to get to it immediately and you're going to come in the fall. It's on tap. It's going to be on tap for a long damn time. It's going to be a slow. Summer's slow for us, so yeah, it might be around in the fall, but maybe we just have to make it again.

All right. Let's hope so. Cheers. Jeremy, thanks, buddy. My pleasure. Thanks for spending some time with Slow Baja. You got it. Hey, I hope you like that one.

Jeremy Deaconcini talking beer, talking Baja, talking adventure, talking travel. If you like what I'm doing here, folks, if you like what I'm doing here, I implore you. Drop a taco in the tank. You can do that by clicking the donate button. It really does help, and I really do need your help. If you don't have any tacos, well, I get it. I'm usually in that state, the taco free zone. And you can still help slow Baja by dropping a five-star review on Apple or Spotify.

That does help. It helps people find the show. And I'm sure that has some long-term help, whatever. I don't really know. It certainly helps with your karma. All right. We've got some hats in the Slow Baja shop. We've got those brand new Keep Baja slow stickers.

You've got to buy some Keep Baja slow stickers. Slap them on your Yeti cooler. Slap them on your bumper. slap them on your water bottle. Slap them anywhere, but get some and help me keep doing this slow Baja thing. All right, well, it's the time on the show that I love where I tell you about my pal Mary McGee, off-road, Motorsports Hall of Famer, AMA Hall of Famer. Mary McGee, she had a pal name Steve McQueen, and Steve McQueen loved Baja.

Steve did, he really did. Steve said it. Baja is life. anything that comes before or after is just waiting. You know, people always ask me, what's the best modification that I've ever made to Slow Baja? Without a doubt, it's my Shieldman seats. You know, Toby at Shield Man USA could not be easier to work with.

He recommended a Vero F for me and a Vero F XXL for my navigator, Ted, as Ted's kind of a big guy. And Toby was absolutely right. The seats are great and they fit both of us perfectly. And let me tell you, after driving, around Baja for over a year on these seats, I could not be happier. Shieldman, slow Baja approved, learn more and get yours at shieldman.com.