Interview with Leonel Migliore from Cerveza Sura

We talked to Leonel Migliore from Cerveza Sura about the flavors of the South and how Sura fits into the landscape. Leo also dived into the topic of quality and consistency in brewing and the role technology plays in helping brewers achieve them.

Oculyze: Could you tell us a few things about yourself and your role at Sura?
Leonel Migliore: My name is Leonel Migliore, I am an Argentinian brewer, and in 2009 I founded a brewery called Volk in Argentina of which I was the head brewer. And then a year ago I came here to Spain in Seville, to be part of the Sura project for which I am also its head brewer.

Oculyze: Your slogan, “El sur tiene un nuevo sabor”, is quite intriguing. How would you describe the flavors of the South, in general, when it comes to beer?
Leonel Migliore: The south of Seville is characterized by having a special climate, a warmth, as they say, and very happy people. And Sura beer is a refreshing Pils, highly drinkable, which invites people to continue with those talks, the meetings, to continue enjoying. It is a beer that can be drunk at a temperature of six degrees, four degrees. So it also makes it suitable for dealing with this climate that we have here in the south and continue promoting these things that are so southern, so deeply rooted, that I was telling you about.

Oculyze: …and what does Sura bring new to the Southern beer landscape?
Leonel Migliore: Sura comes to revive and reassess traditions, and among that to give a more prominent role to local people. Sura is a local beer and what it wants is to brew its beer with local raw material using local workforce and in this way, promoting the hop growers here who are very good, as well as the malt producers. So ultimately we see ourselves as one more actor in a larger story that is the locality and the regionality of this part of Spain, in which Sura becomes part of the panorama.

Oculyze: With fermentation being such a “moody process”, how does your brewery go about achieving consistent quality, and what role does technology play in the process?
Leonel Migliore: All efforts are meaningless without consistent fermentation, right? So for this, a synergy between technology and criteria is necessary; the criteria that comes from the human part. In order to have criteria, it is essential to be able to count on data and records, and then with more technology I can have more data, more information, and with that I can take better decisions because I can build better criteria, which leads me to a production, a process of higher quality.

Oculyze: What, would you say, have been the most noticeable positive impacts of using Oculyze for yeast monitoring in your brewery?
Leonel Migliore: When you have a limited team of people, because it is a small project, in its infancy, to have an agile control tool that is easy to use, makes a difference when it comes to controlling processes. And what Oculyze gave us is an opportunity to closely monitor our processes, with little human resources and with consistency.

Oculyze: Final question: what is the Spanish way to drink beer but, also, what is, in your opinion, “the right way” to drink beer, if there’s any?
Leonel Migliore: When I arrived in Spain, it caught my attention that everyone drank beer directly from the bottle. And I cannot say that there is a correct way to drink beer, but if I pour the beer into a glass, I think it would make a difference, from being able to observe the color of the product, the formation of foam, the release of aroma and everything that goes with it, between sight and sensations. I think they are maximized when serving the beer from a well-kept glass, so I think the efforts should go that way.

Many thanks, Leonel Migliore and Cerveza Sura!

Passionate about the beer and/or wine making process? So are we! If you’re interested in finding out how you can use our technology to control fermentation and monitor your yeast, save work hours and improve the cost-efficiency of your business, drop us a line at [email protected] or check out our product pages:

• Oculyze BB 2.0 (Better Brewing) Yeast Cell Counter App + Hardware
• Oculyze FW (Fermentation Wine) Yeast Cell Counter App + Hardware

Also, you can now get access to a fully functional demo account to test your yeast via our Web App. Completely free of charge and with no commitment to purchase.