Leaving sunday for Caribbean- Grand Turk, St. Thomas, St. John and Puerto Rico. Looking forward to having some outstanding beer from he region. One of my favorites- St. John Brewers label: Mango Pale Ale, Island Hoppin’ IPA, Liquid Sunshine Ale.
also going to go after a few on this top 10 list : Toppa Top 10: The 10 Best Caribbean Beers - Page 12 of 12 - LargeUp
Got any favorites or recommendations?
Awesome. Enjoy !
Last time I was in the Caribbean, the only non-yellow craft beer I could find was Lion Stout.
The yellow beers that I had were all very good. I remember being impressed with the freshness of the beers. Not once, did I get a skunky beer. I had Presidente, Medalla (sp?), Wadadli, Wadadli Gold, and Belikin Premium.
I’m surprised that you’ve come up with as much variety as you have. Whenever I’ve been down to the Caribbean, I’ve found it to be pretty bereft of beer variety, but the list you have compiled is not bad.
In Old San Juan, Puerto Rico there is a decent brew pub in the square near where the cruise ships dock. It is obviously a tourist trap and isn’t really local beer, but it is pretty good. They ferment in open fermenters and serve their beers by gravity. Check it out.
Its not beer but if you see a bar serving “corn and oil” try it. Its a cocktail I learned about in Keith Richard’s autobiography and make at home. Black strap rum and falernum with lime over crushed ice. Its clovey limy kick-ass goodness.
Great beer.
Looks pretty awesome, Ken ! And I thought the cold, windy rain was fun. 
Beautiful islands here. I could get lost and spend a month or two here.
My wife and I are taking an anniversary cruise next week, so I will be on the lookout for more new caribbean beers.
The first stop is cozumel, where I will be looking for a beer called Leon, which is a Munich style beer. I’m guessing o-fest or dunkel.
Second stop is in grand cayman where I am taking a tour of the Cayman Islands Brewery. I’m looking forward to trying their 345 stout.
Finally we are going to Montego Bay, Jamaica, which means Red Stripe.
On the cruise ship, I will try out the red frog beer. Maybe other caribbean beers if they have any at the pub.
J
Cool to see that a few new breweries are popping up. My experience down there has been mostly that beer is for hydrating, Rum is for drinking. A few of the places make stouts based on their British heritage, like Belikin in Belize.
That being said, I still prefer the Caribbean fizzy yellow lagers to Bud/Miller/Coors. There is always some flavor, be it grain, hops, or a certain unknown that’s (usually) not unpleasant.
It’s not on your list of stops, but the last time I was in Nassau, Bahamas my wife and I managed to stumble (quite literally, the people were out giving samples on the sidewalk) onto Pirate Republic Brewing which is the first and only craft brewery in the Bahamas. They have 4 beers out now that I know of a Pilsner, IPA, Kolsch and Stout. We tried the IPA and the Pilsner and they were both quite good. They don’t export anywhere off the island as of yet, I think looking at their facebook page they’ve only been open a year or two but they just finished construction on a nice new tasting room. Most of the stuff seems to be “American style” so I wouldn’t be surprised if the brewer or owner are Americans.
Also in Nassau, the last time I was there at least, you could buy a bottle of Guinness (the tropical foreign extra stout variety) in a grocery store and drink it in the street, as long as you kept it in a brown paper bag. Guinness and conch fritters on the beach.
Not sure if tropical stouts or liberal consumption laws apply to other Caribbean islands, but it’s worth asking.
I have been to Aruba many times and taken the Balashi brewery tour. When I’m there, I will drink Balashi and also Polar from Venezuela. They also used to carry “Amstel”. Not Amstel Light or Amstel Bright but just plain “Amstel” which was nice. I have had Kalik and Sands in the Bahamas, Pitons in St. Lucia, many, many Mexican beers and also Imperial and Pilsen in Costa Rica. This December we’re headed for Turks and Caicos (Providenciales) and I see that the Turks Head brewery (displayed in Ken’s post) makes a number of beers that ARE NOT plain, yellow & fizzy beers including an Amber Lager and a hoppier ale. Looking forward to trying those as well.