Nov 09, 2014

As the Magnum Drinking Opus stops off in Nicaragua, I have already realized that writing about generally tasteless lagers is a fairly tedious undertaking. However I promise to continue to do just that: describing and comparing the drink of each country. I just wanted to take a moment to preface what may be a similar sounding post to several already.

 

On with the show…

 

Beer in Nicaragua, unlike the country itself that I found to be a pleasant surprise, was not exactly a revelation. You have two main choices of Nicaraguan beer. On one hand you have Victoria, on the other you get Toña.

 

Toña is the more widely advertised of the two. Easily while in Nicaragua, one third of all tank tops worn by travelers proudly displayed the Toña logo. However, out of the beer consumed by the people, the split is much more even with Victoria. Toña is still more popular, but the margin did not seem as wide as the amount of advertising exposure would suggest.

 

In terms of which was actually the better beer… Well I preferred Toña, but the difference was very slight. Both lagers are pale in color to the point of looking like a well prepared for drug test submission. Neither had a memorable taste in any way.

 

Even though it was mentioned previously, I will give another quick shout out to Flor de Caña. A product of Nicaragua, it truly is a superior rum. Find some at your local liquor store and enjoy it.

 

Even though Flor de Caña is a national treasure in Nicaragua (there is a major museum dedicated to the rum and company), all of the rum drinks I had while in the country were made with Plata.

 

Plata is fine if you are making a cocktail, such as a fine Big Foot Hostel mojito. But in honesty, Plata is the redheaded stepchild of the rum game in Nicaragua. It will never come close to matching the quality of Flor de Caña, nor will it capture the hearts of the public the way Flor has. But it is not the gut rot that comes in the form of Aguardiente.

 

 

Aguardiente is firewater plain and simple. Clear hooch that tastes like burning. But it is really cheap. Easily the cheapest stuff you can buy. So in a pinch, or if you want to drink like a true Nica, pick up a $.50 bottle and hope you have enough mixer to get through it all.

 

Cheers!

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