The Beers of Aruba (It's called One Happy Island because of all the beer!)

On a recent trip to Aruba, I had the opportunity to take in the sun, surf and the different beers while on the windswept island. I strolled along the beach, floated in the heavy salt of the sea, cleaned off in the pool and perched at the oceanside bars all while enjoying the golden beers of the "One Happy Island."

When, I returned home, I did what I always do and researched the three most popular beers I tried while on vacation.

Balashi – 5% ABV

Balashi is the local Aruban beer, named after an area on the island called Balashi where the Brewery is currently located. In the 19th century, the Aruban gold mining companies were also located in the Balashi area. The name Balashi originated from the words Bala Bala from the Aruac (Arawak) Indian language and means ‘near the sea’.

Balashi National Brewery’s construction started in 1998 and the first Balashi beer was brewed eight months later in May 1999. The first case of Balashi beer was delivered by horse and carriage from the Balashi Brewery to the famous Charlie’s Bar in San Nicolas.

In 2001, Balashi Brewery and Tropical Bottling Company merged. Tropical Bottling Company has been the licensed bottler and distributor of Coca-Cola and other local beverages in Aruba since 1948 and the merger assisted in expansion.

In 2011 the brewery decided that it was time to add another beer to the assortment. This beer was aptly named Balashi Chill, reflecting the ‘chill’ lifestyle in Aruba. Balashi Chill’s smooth, light taste and subtle aroma is complimented by adding a lime when serving the product; similar to Corona.

Today, Balashi has over 150 employees with a fully automated factory that is able to produce 15000 bottles per hour.

 Cerveceria Polar  – 5% ABV

Empresas Polar SA operates as Venezuela's largest private industrial conglomerate, manufacturing and distributing a wide variety of food products and beverages, including beer, soft drinks, juice, corn flours, rice, pastas, margarines, corn oil, cheese spreads, jellies, tuna fish, and frozen sea food. Beer accounts for over half of company sales; subsidiary Cerveceria Polar is the 17th largest beer company in the world.

Dr. Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury, a Venezuelan lawyer, inherited a soap factory from his family during the late 1930s. Although this factory proved to be a financial failure, Fleury established a business style worthy of future success; he soon sold the soap factory in pursuit of a more profitable industry. The search ended in 1941 when he established a brewery in Antimano, a suburb of Caracas.  

The Antimano facility enjoyed sufficient success so that by 1950 a second brewery, Cerveceria de Oriente, could be established in the Venezuelan city of Barcelona. A year later, production demand required the construction of a new brewery with large scale capacity. Also located in Caracas, this establishment eventually became the headquarters for all Polar's activities.

The company trademark, a polar bear looking across a body of blue water, emerged from this facility.

By 1960, at a time when large Venezuelan corporations lacked confidence in the country's beleaguered economy and thus turned their attention to overseas markets, Cerveceria Polar decided instead to expand at home. This decision marked a significant turning point in establishing Polar as the pre-eminent Venezuelan brewery. Soon Cerveceria Modelo, the company's newest brewery, was in operation in Maracaibo in western Venezuela.

Beer sales tripled during the 1970s.

In the 1980s, Cerveceria Polar's brewing process began with water, supplied by municipal sources, that was passed through sand and activated carbon filters. Since Venezuela's climate precluded the cultivation of malt or hops, these supplies were imported from countries as diverse as Canada, Finland, Czechoslovakia, and Australia.

By 1984, Cerveceria Polar controlled an 85 percent share of its domestic marketplace and today one could find Polar Beer in the most remote regions of Venezuela, in 11 of the Caribbean Islands.

Amstel Bright – 4% ABV

In the beginning, Amstel/Heineken produced beer in Holland and shipped it to the Caribbean. In 1960, Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands inaugurated the Antillaanse Brouwerij Brewery in Curacao to target the local markets of Curacao, Bonaire, and Aruba instead of shipping their products overseas.

In the 90’s, still under the Amstel/Heineken name, the brewery’s local and foreign shareholders, which include Heineken NV in The Netherlands, invested over US$ 40 million in the plant. That led to totally renewed production facilities with a new brew house, a new bottling line, a new canning line, and finally, in 2003, a new kegging line.

In search of new opportunities, a new product was launched in 1999: Amstel Bright which is made of malted barley, hops and Curacao tap water. Unlike Mexico, the tap water comes from deep wells in Curacao and Bonaire and is produced by desalination and is some of the softest water that can be found, in the tap in the world.

The beer is a very pale yellow and makes a light very light head. It is a pale style lager and usually served with a wedge of lime. It is easy to drink in hot weather or as a beach beer. Amstel Bright also has more flavor than domestic beers and is slightly lighter than its cousin in the green bottle. As its name may suggest, it is an even lighter Amstel Light – perfect for the hot climates of the Caribbean Islands.

Today, Amstel Bright is still brewed in Curacao and it is widely available in the Dutch West Indies , Curacao, Bonaire, Aruba, and Sint Maartin (The Friendly Island).