In 1996 a little brewpub named Cervecerias La Cruda opened in downtown San Diego. While open for less than a year, the beers were nothing short of remarkable, and that fall, brewer Troy Hojel and his assistant, Tomme Arthur, won the Gold Medal for Robust Porters at the Great American Beer Festival. The Makanudo Porter was only the third San Diego beer to ever to earn a GABF medal. 2011… San Diego is now the epicenter of Craft Brewing and our homebrewing community thrives like never before. This past April Troy Hojel, Skip Virgilio and Tomme Arthur, each a homebrewer who followed their dreams and turned pro, reunited for the first time in 15 years and recreated that legendary La Cruda Porter. Their hope was to send a message in a bottle out to homebrewers everywhere: Never stop daring, Never stop experimenting. An most of all, never stop imagining the places beer can take us.