Rincon, Puerto Rico

Hey all. I've perused the PR thread and saw some helpful stuff, but noticed a lot of the things mentioned are in and around San Juan.

We're heading to the west coast of PR the beginning of next month and was just hoping some of my fellow BAs might have some recommendations on breweries, brew pubs, restaurants, or any bar in or around the Rincon area that might have some decent beer. Most importantly, we're only gonna be there for 5 days, and we rented a house so a great bottle/can shop recommendation would be tits. I would like to leave our place as little as possible so having some decent beer in the house would be a plus. We're flying into San Juan and have rented a car so if there's anything shop/distro wise between San Juan and Rincon that would be lovely too.

Thanks in advance, I know almost nothing about where we're going so anything would be helpful.

 

Hi there! I live on the island. Here are some suggestions:

Old San Juan:
- La Taberna Lúpulo (San Sebastian St. in the old city) 50 taps all craft beer from the US and Europe and a few local offerings
- Old Harbor Brewery: PR's longest running craft microbrewery/brewpub. World class lagers and some ales too.

If you have the time, venture out of the tourist trap and check out One Ten Thai in Aguadilla (12 taps, mostly local - and the food is great too) and Rincón Beer Company in the town square in scenic Rincón (11 taps - mostly local and US brews). Also in the western part of the island, my friends at the Bros. Brewing in Aguada (Road #115 - 6 taps, mostly local) is a great stop on your way to RBC.

As for local beer:
Barlovento Brewing Co. (Manatí, PR) brews my favorite IPA, Galeón IPA as well as other beers. Anything they do is great.
Boquerón Brewing Co. Their Crash Boat IPA is a local favorite and a delicious.
Ingeniero Microbrewery (also out of Manatí) brews their Porter Rican with local caacao nibs and a wonderful double IPA named Mother Hopper. They're not as easy to find as the other two, but worth a try.

Craft beer is pretty much available everywhere on the island in 2015. Gas stations, restaurants, grocery stores. It's grown a lot in the past year. Cheers and enjoy your time here.

@cornucopia
I "stole" this post from the other PR thread. Awesome info. If there's anything else about Rincon or from my OP you want to or can add to I'd really appreciate it. Thanks for the already great information!

 

Bumping because we leave early on Saturday and just hoping one of you has some more tips or info here. It would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank you so much for the response. I'm not on Facebook but I've been lurking on The Beer Box and Rincon Beer Co. websites for a week now. My only other question is who gets distributed there? I tried seek-a-brew and have googled the shit on it, but beside Stone, Ommegang, Founders, Bells...a few others I'm having a hard time with it. I would love nothing more than cans. I want to try all the local shit but if you told me I could go into a store and buy a case of GF Sculpin, I wouldn't be upset one bit.

 

Thank you so much. I'm assuming I can probably find all these at the Beer Box which is pretty close to where we're staying. Do they have this kind of beer at a regular supermarket?

I got cans of Terrapin Hi-Five when we were in Virginia and those were perfect for the beach. Thanks again for the helpful info.

 

@PJ_
I cannot thank you enough. I feel as though I'm basically going to another country so this is very helpful. I cannot get whacked out on rum the whole time I'm there, and I would drink any beer handed to me considering the weather we'll be in. But, I need to have some decent beer on hand.

 

@PJ_
Here's my last post/question in this thread. I've narrowed down to Craft Beer Distributors in west San Juan and the Beer Box in Aguadilla. My two scenarios are that I could go to CBD, get off the highway, possibly get lost in a city where my speaking of the local language is amateurish at best. It looks easy enough looking at a map but....or go to the Beer Box, which looks to be only a few miles off the highway in a more rustic/less urban area that looks pretty straightforward to get to and back to 22 on and be only 20 something minutes from where we're staying.

Beer is obviously important to me, but being that we're only staying 5days/4nights I just want to get to where we're staying. From what you've said, I would assume CBD has the better, cheaper, more diverse selection of the two places but the Beer Box looks more than sufficient to get what I want. I'm not going to PR to drink mind blowing beer, I just want to drink beer I like while I'm there. Where would you go if you were in my shoes? One thing I would like to add...cans (some, doesn't have to be all) are important. They're easier to take to a beach, you don't need an opener, easier to bundle up and throw out. They're not a deal breaker, per se, but I would love to buy a case right away if I could (IPA, pale ale, sonething "beachy")

Thanks for putting up with me and thanks for bumping that other thread. I'm really appreciative of your help.

 

Thanks for the response. I'm looking at late morning in San Juan, early afternoon in Aguadilla on Saturday.

 

Thanks man. You've convinced me. The San Juan spot it is. By the time we get our bags, rent the car and get out of the airport it'll be close enough to noon, I would figure. PJ, you're the man.

 

Haha...tired of beer?

 

So...totally spaced out on Craft Beer Distributors in San Juan. Our flight was late and getting the rental car became a whole thing so once we went through the tunnel I was looking for an exit called Av. Jose Diego and as @PJ_ probably knows that exit doesn't exist. I'm guessing we must have needed the exit for 2 (JFK) and being I had no concept of where I was, I realized about 5 miles later we must have missed it and I wasn't turning around.

So the Beer Box it was and I found that pretty easily. The guy there was really cool and even hooked me up a bit. He knew Other Half and Grimm which surprised me. I was able to score Two Hearted, Smitten, Expedition, Smutty Finest Kind, Founders Breakfast Stout and Azacca and, Terrapin Wake n Bake which I never had before.

We went to a Econo for food and supplies and ended up finding Bear Republic and Terrapin Hi-5 cans. We also drank a shitload of Medalla Light, tequila and my go-to at the restaurants was Presidente but it was pretty cool to drink these beers in paradise. Honestly, Rincon was awesome.

We also hit the Rincon Beer Co and I had Founders Imperial Stout on nitro which was awesome. We did at least 2 beers each, a few flights and even an appetizer for only $55 which, coming from NY, was a pleasant surprise. The only local I had was the FOK red which was decent.

Thanks again @PJ_. Wouldn't have found the good stuff without you. Anybody who reads this thread...go to Rincon. It's beautiful and off the touristy path. Had a friggin blast.