Havana Cuba Cerveceria

2018-02-09
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Havana Cuba Cerveceria

2018-02-09

Craft beer in Cuba just got mas bueno. We knew Cuba has been changing, opening up, granting more freedom to the people, and a recent arrival to the list is "cerveca craft". We recently had a chance to visit the only craft brewery in Havana and meet with the brewer in charge of quality. While working on a clean drinking water project in Cuba, at the end of the trip, we stopped by the Fabrica de Cerveca (beer factory) or Cerveceria on the waterfront in old Havana. It's nicely situated on a pier overlooking the harbor very near to where the cruise ships dock. The large open warehouse has a copper kettle brew house on a raised stage. Behind the mash tun and boiler is a glass room where they ferment, cold crash and store the finished product. Being a government controlled brewery, they are only allowed to brew approved recipes - and those are Claro, Oscuro and Negro. That translates to a tap list of Clear, Cloudy and Dark. The brewery with no name, brews three styles of beer that have no names. Of course we had to try all three. There was no option to order a flight so we ordered up a pint of each. What an adventure. We grabbed a table just outside on the pier where we still had a view of the brew taps. As we enjoyed our cold cervezas we noticed at the bar, they were pouring beer into 4 foot tall tubes and delivering them to the tables. El Tubo, is a 2 liter tube filled with your beer of choice for $12. It has a tap, so you can pour your own glass and refill it several times. The Claro is a light pilsner, el Oscuro is a brown ale and El Negro is a slightly darker brown ale. The Negro had a richer taste and was the most popular at our table. All in all it was very enjoyable we savored every drop. Craft brew in Cuba - of all the places. So after the pints were empty we took a look inside. I stepped up to the main bar and gave a big "hola" to someone I thought might be a brewer, she was wearing a white lab coat. She was the brewer in charge of quality. She was enthusiastic to talk about her beer and she quickly offered me a tour. We stepped behind the counter into the glass fermenting room up on the stage. She explained the mashing process, the boil, pitching hops, transferring and chilling, fermenting, cold crashing and racking. They hod their finished beer in horizontal tanks that have beer lines wrapped with glycol chill lines that feed directly to the taps at the bar. Watch the video of our brewery tour on youtube.

I asked her if she was working on new brews for the upcoming summer or if she experiments with local fruits or if she was thinking about an IPA. DUH! She gave me a look I recognized. After 6 days in Cuba I was grasping the government control on all activities - until I forget. Of course she wasn't working on any new flavors... she can only brew what she is instructed to brew, what the government approves. The Cuban people know something about revolutions, but the beer revolution hasn't hit the shores of Cuba yet. She gave me that look I see when I don't get it. I assured her it was coming some day and her brewing options would expand in the future. So there you have it, Havana has craft beer. I highly suggest you pay a visit to the craft brewery in Havana and order yourself a 2 liter tube.



Cuba also has two large beer labels, Cristal and Bucanero (mas fuerte). Crystal (4.9% ABV) is a very light Mexican style pilsner similar to Corona. Bucanero (5.4% ABV) is a slightly stronger lager along the lines of a Modelo Especial. Both are welcomes tastes after a day of working in the sun. Bucanero was more popular among my fellow travelers. We had more than one.