Hello all, since the last thread I could find was over a year old I figured I'd try a new one. Heading to Costa Rica, flying into Liberia and heading down the west coast a couple of hours. Any craft beer I would be able to track down as I will have a SUV?
There's a little micro brewery on the water in Tamarindo, Volcano Brewing, that has only two beers they make (an APA and a Brown Ale). Both pretty standard. Great little surf town though, definitely worth checking out.
Ive been travelling the country for two weeks and tried everything i came across. Mostly florida bebidas. But eight now im in playa dominical, where there is a great brewpub, Fuego. Hreat food and around ten taps. Beer is decent. Best brewery so far is Treintaycinco. Their IPA is as good as a IPA is anywhere else.
I ended up finding a nice little bar in Samara called Microbar that had about 20 local craft beer taps. Nothing great, but some interesting offerings.
I'm heading down to CR this summer. Wondering what are the typical cans/bottles served in bars or can be bought at the supermarkets? My expectations are very low for craft beer but still would like to sample a few.
It's mostly all domestic lager brands everywhere (Imperial & Pilsen). In San Jose it's not too hard to find some half decent imports, however meager the selection. As to the locally made stuff, some of the bigger supermarkets stock some but it's nothing to get excited about.
Where are you staying ? Keep your expectations low, I was in Los Suenos for 2 weeks and it was pretty bad. Tried about 25 CR craft and there wasn't anything that good. Enjoy the scenery and have fun. Also pack a few cans to bring with you.
That's true...flying Southwest, so I get the extra checked bag and can roll up with my bubble wrap a few cans to take with me. Maybe even 1 bottle of homebrew to share with locals or other tourists at our place. Most likely I'll drink a few girly "beach drinks" or some shots of various tequila or local canned swill down there and I'll still be very happy.
Imperial is actually pretty damn good. I'll be traveling to Mal Pais in April and that will most likely be my go-to.
I just got back from a week in Costa Rica, figured I'd contribute to the thread for others planning trips. We stayed in the Arenal area for three days and Tamarindo for three. Like eman17 said, for Tamarindo, Volcano is a great spot with gorgeous views, and they actually have guest taps from Costa Rica Brewing Co, Treintaycinco (which, as Albin said above, is probably your best bet) and, believe it or not, a few from Stone. They also have their own traditional IPA now which is a definite step up from the APA. (Alas, they were out of the brown.) Arenal area has a great little brewpub/restaurant of its own called Lake Arenal Brewing, on the west side near Tilaran. They have a big variety of beers, nothing out of this world but for the area it's pretty impressive. Food's good too. That area also has the well-advertised (I'm talking signs from over an hour away) Macadamia Cafe which is worth the visit for their breakfast/lunch offerings. For bottle offerings...we didn't stay near San Jose so can't speak for the metro area, but in the areas I was in, grocery stores are pretty much limited to the omnipresent Imperial family of BMC-style lagers, as well as Corona and Heineken. One of the grocery stores also inexplicably had Wells Banana Bread and Young's Chocolate Stout, and I even saw a sixer of Guinness Extra Stout too. You'll see a lot of ads for "Bendito Te" which, with my limited Spanish, I wasn't sure what it was but which sounded good, but avoid it - it's a super-sweet iced-tea flavored malt beverage.
