A few days ago Jovita and I talked on the phone to Elvira Robles and she told us a wonderful story about our grandfather Juan Ramon Pena. It seems that during prohibition he and Tio Pedro, Tio Jesus and the older sons would make home made beer. They were caught bootlegging and were put in jail in Gonzales. Our grandfather was well known and considered the " Don " and had some pull so he got them out, and they continued making beer for a very long time.
Our Grandfather was well known and many people came to buy his beer, our grandmother was known for her tamales. There were many get togethers and parties at the Ranch. On one occasion when making beer, a cat fell into the porcelain vat with beer in it, they still bottled the beer and set it aside. Later at a big party, they ran out of beer so my grandfather said bring out the special beer with the " Marca del Gato" and the party continued and the joke from then on was the name of the Pena beer was "Marca del Gato" Elvira said that it was her job and the younger kids to wash out the bottles real real good for the beer. She laughed so much and said how she missed all the wonderful times she had growing up at our grandfather's ranch
