When you think about South American beer, I am sure you are like me in thinking Light lager, like that from Mexico (yes I know it is Central America opposed to South) or Brazil. Well Chile definitely doesn't fit that mold! With a history of British (costal shipping towns) and German (Southern farming areas) the range of beers, ales and the like are so impressive!
So the way it works is that there are a number of bars but also a number of coffee shops turn into beer bars (I.e. All they sell is beer) like the pictures below-
But in Valparisio we found a brew bar selling an Irish red, an American pale ale, a porter and a lager. I have a real soft spot for American Pale Ales so I tried that, it was nice, but the aroma from the hops wasn't very strong and it did lack that fruity hit you find from a APA, when chatting to the bar man in a mixture of Scottish, English and Spanish the hops were grew in Chile which may explain the difference.
Back in the hotel I drank a few of these, yes it is called "Kunstmann" but it is actually Chilean (from the south where a large German settlement occurred after WW1 and it was a mix of a larger and a pale ale, I would say more of a big flavoured lager, but very enjoyable...
Overall, what a great surprise to find great beers in such a great country - great wine, great beer, great seafood - it sounds just like Aus! I can't wait to come back here...
No comments:
Post a Comment