Today in 1902, Cuba gained their Independence from Spain (and the U.S.).
Cuba
Cuba Breweries
Cuba Brewery Guides
Other Guides
- CIA World Factbook
- Official Website
- No Embassy, but U.S. Interests Section
- Wikipedia
Guild: None Known
National Regulatory Agency: None
Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known
Drunk Driving Laws: BAC 0.01% or None
- Full Name: Republic of Cuba
- Location: Caribbean, island between the Caribbean Sea and the North Atlantic Ocean, 150 km south of Key West, Florida
- Government Type: Communist state
- Language: Spanish (official)
- Religion(s): Roman Catholic 85%, Protestant, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jewish, Santeria (prior to Castro assuming power)
- Capital: Havana
- Population: 11,075,244; 74th
- Area: 110,860 sq km, 106th
- Comparative Area: Slightly smaller than Pennsylvania
- National Food: Platillo Moros y Cristianos; Ropa vieja; Puerco asado; Yuca con mojo
- National Symbols: Cuban Crocodile; White Ginger Lily — Mariposa; Palma Real
- Affiliations: UN, OAS
- Independence: From Spain, May 20, 1902 (from Spain, 10 December 1898; administered by the US from 1898 to 1902; not acknowledged by the Cuban Government as a day of independence) / Triumph of the Revolution, January 1, 1959
- Alcohol Legal: Yes
- Minimum Drinking Age: None (to drink); 18 (to buy)
- BAC: 0.01% or None
- Label Requirements: N/A
- Number of Breweries: 6
- How to Say “Beer”: cerveza
- How to Order a Beer: Una cerveza, por favor
- How to Say “Cheers”: Salud
- Toasting Etiquette: N/A
Alcohol Consumption By Type:
- Beer: 33%
- Wine: 1%
- Spirits: 66%
- Other: <1%
Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):
- Recorded: 4.41
- Unrecorded: 1.10
- Total: 5.51
- Beer: 1.48
WHO Alcohol Data:
- Per Capita Consumption: 4 litres
- Alcohol Consumption Trend: Increase
- Excise Taxes: Yes
- Minimum Age: 18
- Sales Restrictions: Time, location
- Advertising Restrictions: Yes
- Sponsorship/Promotional Restrictions: N/A
Patterns of Drinking Score: 2
Prohibition: None
Will the US ever wise up & get rid of the trade embargo & all the other BS w/them?? They’ve not been a threat since the Berlin Wall came tumbling down & the USSR fell apart. Cuban expatriates in Miami have too much lobbyist clout relative to their size (even including the brainwashed 2nd & 3rd generations). It’s long overdue for Congess to get real, do what’s right, & tell them to go to hell!
Interesting.
There’s been a slight softening in travel restrictions, shifting back to the pre-9/11 rules. Outfits can arrange educational travel for groups. Oddly, I hadn’t thought about it in terms of beer travel. I assumed that the beer would be a cheap industrial lager, perhaps similar to El Presidente from the Dominican Republic. We had that beer fresh while on a baseball trip to the Dominican, and it required heat and thirst before it was desirable. Not fair to make any assumptions about Cuba based on that tradition, probably.
So an educational beer tour could go to observe the brewing technology and talk with brewers, if motivated for an interesting vacation. But it would not be advisable to try to bring any thing home through TSA.
Maybe I’m thinking like a missionary, but the cool thing would be to get some modern craft beer practitioners in Canada or Europe to take on a project of visiting, bringing in an array of beers for the Cuban brewers to taste, touring, and arranging to make brewing equipment or ingredients from non-US sources. Americans could do the visit, but not exchange beers or resources.
Stupid in terms of US law, but what an interesting citizen diplomacy project that might be while we wait for (or work for) a higher baseline level of sanity and humanity in the halls of congress in the US.