Beer in Brazil by John Curran

 While good beer in brazil is few and far between, they do have some quality stuff! but usually at a hefty price. Micro-brewing has not caught on like it has in the states. Wine and extremely sweet cocktails tend to be the trend in brazil's bars and night clubs. As for those day's on the beach with a couple of brew's. That tends to consist of your average pilsner-style brew like Brahma, Antarctica, or skol. Similar to that of an American Bud, Miller, or Coors light, all generic in taste and low quality. Beers including some of the micro brew's in brazil tend to be a little more watery then American beers lighter on the hops, and the malts, cause of the extreme heat (summer average is about 110 and can get to 120). And the water plays a big role in the brewing of beer,  Brazil has what is referred to as soft water witch doesn't make good for brewing darker beers such as stouts and other darker beers.  Most beer's are referred to as gold or dark and usually don't have the stout porter or ale names attached to them. And the darker beers tend to not pack the same punch as they do in the states. There are some generic's that aren't half bad witch is devassa and itipava, I haven't gotten around to trying the dark devassa, but the golden pilsner style isn't half bad and aren't expensive at around 2 reais for a 12 oz can. Devassa and itipava tend to be my drinks of choice when I know ill be drinking more then 2 or 3 beers in a night. 
  My first beer that I really love happens to be a dark American style lager from right hear in Rio, its has a taste that is very crisp and refreshing. witch believe me if you had some of the other so called dark beers down hear you would be blown away by this one. Most of the darker beers like petra tend to be not so refreshing and just skunky in taste. Black Princess however is refreshing on a hot day witch really isn't the point of dark style beer. At 4.8 % alcohol and about 6 reais  for 12 oz bottle, This Beer gives brazil its own unique tropical style take on a what would usually be considered a winter beer and is usually what is in the fridge at my house for casual drinking. 
  My second beer is estrada real IPA witch is a great  IPA and one of the better beers iv' e had, but at a price of about 20 reais (dollars) for a 20 oz bottle makes it not so worth it. This beer come's from the state of Minas Gerais to the west of Rio. While not very hopy, and light on the bitterness it has a nice citrus flavor to it. It does not really follow the standard IPA style/taste and to someone use to English and American style brewing would have a hard time believing this to be an IPA you have to understand that brewing beer of an IPA's nature in a tropical country is going to come out quit different then what you are use too, it does however have a nice 7.5 % alcohol volume and a nice copper color. It is interesting and very good,  But the price makes it certainly unreasonable to be a main-stay in my fridge and wont make it in there to often.