COVID Helps Birth Beer Website – NBC 7 San Diego

Brandon Hernandez lives with an incurable autoimmune disease called lupus, which means COVID has forced him to cut himself off from the world in order to protect himself from the potentially fatal infection.

“Lupus is a chronic (long-term) disease that can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body,” according to the Lupus Foundation. “It’s an autoimmune disease, which means your immune system – the body system that usually fights infection – attacks healthy tissue instead.”

COVID has changed the lives of many, but Hernandez has managed to turn the pandemic into something positive.

Prior to the days of COVID, Hernandez worked in the beer industry for 15 years and also worked as a freelance journalist.

With a compromised immune system, COVID forced Brandon to literally shut himself off from the world.

“It would force me to stop working and it was actually my doctor’s prescription: stop working completely,” Hernandez said.

So Hernandez turned his side-gig into a full-time job, launching San Diego Beer News.

“San Diego Beer News is sort of your one-stop-shop whether you’re interested in the beer business or looking to find breweries,” Hernandez said.

Now, just over a year later, Hernandez has collaborated with Burgeon Brewing in Carlsbad to create a commemorative beer to celebrate.

“We made Cover Story IPA – a real San Diego-style IPA, that’s one thing.” Hernandez said. “Very dry, very hoppy. And it was a really cool experience. I was able to help find the recipe as well as the sleeve, which was newspaper around the can, and people seem to really like it, from the can. share of brewers on occasional fans. I know I did and almost got out. “

Pro tip: don’t drink the profits, Brandon.