Beer “Cerveza”
In most Latin American countries, domestic beers are just about all you’ll find. Imports are rare, and when found, often overpriced. Domestic Latin American beers, overall, are rarely very exciting or innovative. However, you’ll find that there are some Costa Rican beers that rise above the teeming legions of uninspired, pale, American-style industrial lagers, which are even more prevalent in Latin America than they are in the U.S. The weather is always warm here, and therefore finding a good beer is almost necessary for most.
In Costa Rica, there is only one major brewery, which goes by Cerveceria de Costa Rica, at least if you believe the labels. However, it is in fact owned by a conglomerate called the Florida Ice and Farm Company. Florida Ice & Farm has been into brewing for a long time — ever since they bought the Traube brewery in 1912.
Today’s Costa Rican Beers…
Imperial:
Costa Rica’s most popular brand, it seems like you can’t move 10 feet without spying the very Russian looking eagle-emblazoned logo of Imperial. The beer itself is a straightforward American-style pilsner. Light bodied with a somewhat sweet malt and corn base, a crisp dry-mouth feel, and just a light pepper kiss of hops in the finish.
Imperial Silver:
Summer beer. Product with the style of regular beer, specially formulated for container lens. It features a medium body and balanced, is characterized by a soft yet balanced aroma and bitterness that perfectly complement each other, resulting in a very nice beer to take on any occasion, highly refreshing, ideal for enjoying the summer and as accompanying any food. This is a slightly lighter version of a regular Imperial.
Pilsen:
The second-most popular brand in Costa Rica, Pilsen is also available just about everywhere. It’s somewhat lighter in body and color than Imperial, and the flavor is thinner with more corn apparent and virtually no hops character beyond that needed for balance. It’s similar to U.S. brands like Keystone or Milwaukee’s best.
Bavaria Gold:
The Bavaria product line seems to be the upscale image section of Cerveceria de Costa Rica’s product line. They’re better marketed and more attractively packaged, with foil labels and neck wrapping, and there are three styles under the Bavaria banner. Bavaria Gold claims to be a Dortmunder style lager, and it is noticeably better in quality than either Imperial or Pilsen, with a firmer body, a cleaner flavor with less corn and sulfides apparent in the flavor, and a drier mouth-feel with a bit of grassy hops noticeable in the finish. Bavaria Gold can be ranked as about a 3-star mid-range performer, but definitely the best of the pale lagers.
Bavaria Dark:
The label says “dark beer”, but most of the bartenders and waiters refer to this one as “Bavaria Negra”. It’s a very nice, well-crafted Vienna style dark amber. It’s sort of a cross between Mexico’s two big Vienna beers: Negra Modelo and Dos XX. Lighter in color and somewhat drier than Negra Modelo, it’s also darker in color and maltier than Dos XX. It has a very well rounded mouth-feel with some soft malt sweetness and low hopping rates that let the malt really dominate the balance. The flavor and aroma are very clean, with no defects and with no adjunct signatures. This well-crafted beer can be ranked as a solid 4-star above-average beer that will find a place at the table of most discriminating drinkers.
Bavaria Light:
Typical thin, watery low-cal and low-alcohol beer with a harsh bitter bite and no body to back it up. It’s as good as light beers sold by major U.S. breweries.
Bavaria Blues:
To satisfy the most select, the legacy Brewer Bavaria joins the musical legacy of the Blues, to present “Bavaria Blues”a distinguished beer-tasting with a proposal more gentle on the palate. Made with the finest selected ingredients complemented by a sophisticated presentation, you will experience the feelings of the blues in a beer.
Rock Ice:
Typical thin, watery, unbalanced “ice” beer that strikes me as badly conditioned and somewhat oily feeling on the palate. An offensive substance that cries out for substance.
Rock Ice Limón:
Rock Ice Limon presents the perfect balance to combine just the right touch of lemon and salt. Unmistakable, Rock Ice Limon creates a unique experience.
Heineken:
Heineken is the most recognized European beer in the world. It is a classic Lager, with balanced aroma and taste. Made with 100% malt, and with a level of bitterness somewhat higher than that of Pilsen, this beer is of the premium type. It has been produced in our production plant since 1986, under a license from the Dutch headquarters.
Bremen low alcohol beer:
To create Bremen beer, special malts are mixed when processing. Parent company Florida Ice & Farm intends to attract an occasional drinker audience and women looking for low energy beverages (low in calories) and a pleasant flavor.
Kaiser:
In 1999, Florida Ice and Farm introduced Kaiser to the Costa Rican beer market. Kaiser is a nonalcoholic beer produced through the separation of its alcohol by an “osmotic membrane” process using dialysis modules, so that the “mother” beer’s characteristics maintain a high level of flavor.
Full flavored craft brewed ales have been, for the most part, unavailable in Costa Rica for as long as anyone can remember. Until now.
Costa Rica’s Craft Brewing Co. (CRCBC) has filled this gap, bringing handcrafted ales to Costa Rica starting in late 2010. Using materials and expertise from all over the world, these guys are creating different types of beer that are showing up around the country in both draft and bottles.
Using nothing but whole grains, hops, yeast and water, CRCBC is producing ales in many different styles but are mass producing and distributing Libertas Tropical Golden Ale and La Segua Red Ale.
Libertas:
Libertas is a crisp, light colored golden ale that was specifically designed for the “Tropical” climate and sunny beaches of Costa Rica.
La Segua Red Ale:
La Segua Red Ale was created to introduce Costa Rica to a true craft beer. Darker in color and richer in flavor, this beer was made to fill the gap of the missing flavor of hops in most beers found here. The hop aroma of La Segua paired with the bitter hop finish is what many beer drinkers here in CR seem to yearn for.
By Diana Wilson
