Craft Beer in the Bahamas!?

Lived on St. Maarten for two years, and the definitive answer is "nope".


Actually, if you thoroughly explore the islands you'll find extremely obscure Euro dark/strong/pale/whatever lagers that aren't very good. Stock up on Guinness Export and you'll be set.

 

Kalik gold - a masterpiece of a beer

 

No. Kalik and Sands are your local choices and neither can be described as craft. Your other choices are Guiness Foreign Stout and Heineken. The beaches however are amazing. Have fun, but don't expect great beer. I'd trade a whale to be there now.

 

Some of them are certainly interesting, and things you will literally never find again, but they are random as hell. Last cruise I was on we emptied bottles of Listerine and put a dropper or two of food coloring into a refilled bottle of white liquor. Honestly though I bet you would be able to sneak some delicious craft beverage on board. Just make sure it isn't something you would be upset about it being confiscated.

 

The beer in the Bahamas is expensive and sucks. Sands is horrible and Kalik is not much better than that. Do yourself a favor and enjoy the rums you cannot buy in the USA, because of trade embargo stuff, if you catch my drift. Just don't bring it back with you. Also I don't know if where you are in the Bahamas but get away from the tourist cruise terminal area. They will shake you down and try to sell you the Bahamanian rum, which is equally as shitty as their beer, but oddly not as expensive for what you get. Hard liquor is always cheaper than beer for some reason.

 

when in Rome...drink rum

 

What cruise line are you going with and which islands are you going to be visiting? I just went on one in August and the ship itself had some decent beer selections.

I also recommend this. Liquor can be dirt cheap on the islands (less than $10/bottle for lower-end stuff and ~$20 for mid-high end stuff).

 

Drink whiskey, that's the best option. Khalik is swill.

 

+1 to @humuloner22 and @mr_monch and @Boca-X Go with rums, rum drinks, etc. And don't necessarily go for Bahamian rum. I went through some Appleton 21yr that I never found at such prices elsewhere in my life.

 

Actually, Strongback Stout by Bahamian Brewing is pretty darn good.

 

I will give you a perfect example. We stayed on the island where Nassau is, since bars are expensive we stopped and stocked up. My friends and I had about a $100 between us so we split the spirits and the beer. We bought a case of Kalik for around $50 and two bottles of 7 year cuban rum and a bottle of grey goose with the other $50.

 

The Strongback Stout as mentioned before is not bad at all as is the Guiness Export Stout. If you are a rum drinker you should also try the Ron Ricardo Coconut Rum,it is awesome.

 

Guess it depends how much is left after the hurricane!

 

But more importantly, will you able to catch the Bs games while on that cruise?

 

Carib Lager isn't awful and is available in most places over there.

 

Enjoy your cavity search when you get busted !

 

Bahamas are a good beer wasteland. Explore other options.