#16: Cuba

Ideally I would like to try a proper Cuban craft beer, made with love, but I think my chances of getting my hands on one are about as likely as my becoming a witch doctor. So I have to settle for... Cubanero! Which I found at the astonishingly large and well-stocked Warners on the Bay bottleshop on the New South Wales central coast.

At first glance, everything about this beer reeks of "export tourist crap that the locals wouldn't touch if their head was on fire". The silly name, the cheesy cartoonish picture of a pirate on the front, it's all a bad sign. And drinking it... well, it tastes like a generic export beer too. Just another inoffensive medium-light bodied lager, goes down ok with some salty or spicy food, but not much interesting going on here. The Cubans can probably make better beer than this, but I had to take my chances when I saw this one.

Name: Cubanero
Country of production: Republic of Cuba
Style: Lager
Taste: Mild generic lager
Cost: around AU$5 per bottle
Availability in AU: Low
Cred: Medium
My score: 5 out of 10 bizarre trade embargoes

#15: Laos

Laos is a small landlocked country in Southeast Asia, not really famous for its beer, or perhaps really much else. Nevertheless they make a beer, called Beer Lao; I tried it in Thailand a while ago, forgot to photograph it, but managed to get my hands on it here. So what is it like?

Much as I wanted to like Beer Lao, I really can't say I did. Lao is a poor country, and their beer is made from rice (true) instead of barley or wheat, which is a cheap and easy to grow grain, but one that doesn't lend itself to quality beers. It starts off as a fairly average lager with a pretty strong malt tone, but about halfway through it develops a quite unpleasant stale, starchy aftertaste, which probably comes from the rice base. I'm afraid I can't really recommend Beer Lao.

Name: Beer Lao
Country of production: Lao People's Democratic Republic
Style: Lager
Taste: Medium bodied lager with unpleasant rice aftertaste developing
Cost: around AU$4 per bottle
Availability in AU: Low
Cred: Medium high
My score: 4.5 out of 10 oppressed tribal minorities

#14: South Africa

South Africa is a country not known so much for the peculiarities of its individual beers, but for its beer producers, or rather producer: the South African colossus SABMiller (formerly SAB or South African Breweries Limited) bought not only the US beer brand Miller, but recently completed a takeover of Australia's own Fosters. It truly is a mighty giant amongst giants as far as industrial beer producers go. They hold a 98% market share in the South African market and significant ownership all over the world.

But how does their own flagship South African beer, Castle Lager taste? I tried some at a local Newtown restaurant called Smash (specialising in sausages and mash, nice!), and it went down fairly well. It's a fairly generic lager, but with a bit more grainy body and punch than your average generic European lager, reminding me a bit more of Australian beers such as Carlton Draught. It was not bad to wash down some spicy sausages with, but it's no craft beer and I wouldn't go running out of my way to find another one.


Name: Castle Lager
Country of production: Republic of South Africa
Style: Lager
Taste: Decent grainy body, moderate slightly bitter finish, not too interesting
Cost: around AU$7 per bottle
Availability in AU: Low
Cred: Low medium
My score: 6 out of 10 carjackings