The Great Colombian Beer-off

Written by Kyle about Colombia. Feelin' normal
Kyle_thumb
I like beer.  Beer, beer, beer.  As we've been passing through different countries, I've been making a conscience effort to try each different type of beer that I can find.  And usually, I declare a winner in my mind of the best beer from that country.  Unfortunately, my methodology is usually anything but scientific as usually the beers tasted happen many days apart in many different settings.  So, I decided to change this.  I went out and bought one of each type of Colombian beer that I could find so that I could try a sip of each of them in the same location in roughly the same time period.  Here's what I ended up with:

Great Colombian Beer-Off Contestants

After dinner, I carefully set up my testng lab (aka "la mesa") with all of my testing aparati, which includes a very scientific pen, a super-high-tech notebook, and my tongue.  I then proceeded crack open each beer, and take a sip, writing down the resutls of what I found.

Judging the great Colombian Beer-Off

After taking a few sips of each, here are my completely unbiased scientific findings:

The "Real" Beers

Poker ("Es Cervesa de Verdad" - The true beer)

  This one was a little darker than the other pilsners, but that's not saying much.  Still a very lite, watery beer.

Pilsen ("El Sabor Original de la Recompensa" - The Orignal Taste of Reward)

  This tasted like the other pilsners, but had a terrible aftertaste.  I guess their subtitle is right as it was orignal but the reward part was missing.

Aguila ("La Cervesa de Colombia" - Colombia's Beer)

  This one didn't have anything repugnant about it.  Not much good to write about it either.  It's got alchohol, so that's always good.

Club Colombia

  This one actually had some flavor to it.  Tasted a bit like a really wussy red beer.  But, hey, flavor!  That's a start.  This also seems to be the unofficial favorite of other travelers that passed by to taste the beers.

Costañita

  Hello?  Where's the beer flavor?  Tastes like water with a mild hint of beer.

The beer mixes

Redd's ("El Sabor que Despierta tus sentidos" - The Taste that Wakes Up Your Senses)

  Wasn't expecting this one.  It tastes a bit like what I call Summer Beer (beer, lemonade, some vodka).  The British and Irish like to call it "shandy" and I'll take their word on it because I have no idea what that is.

Cola y Pola

  This is actually a mixture of soda and beer.  It's almost like an alchoholic cream soda.  Mmmm...yummy.  It's also apparently popular for helping hangovers in the morning.


So, what's my favorite, then?  Well, based on just taste, I'll have to go with Club Colombia as it actually tries to taste like beer.  It's not like I would recommend it to anyone, but if you're going to drink Colombian beer, this is the best of the lot.  Suprisingly, I really like the Cola y Pola as a beer alternative.  Who knew that soda + beer = yummy?

The disconcerning reader at this point will wonder if, after opening all of these beers, did I finish them.  The answer is, of course, yes.  And let me tell you that mixing 6 different types of beer in one sitting makes your stomach grumble a bit when you're trying to sleep.  But, I guess that's the price to pay for science.

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