Belikin Beer
Belikin beer is a staple of the national diet in Belize, you can’t travel through Belize and miss it. It is advertised on every street corner, sold in every shop, and drank in every bar and restaurant.
After Mexico’s rather light and watery attempt at beer surely Belikin will be different, after all the British were here and have influenced many things in this region. The first taste of Belikin was on Caye Caulker and experienced the local way. That is go to the shop, open the bottle with the bottle opener attached to the service desk and coolly drink while walking along the street. However on further inspection it looks like this is all some of the locals do.
I don’t blame them, Belikin is a fantastic tasting beer. It’s not watery and has a strong flavour, after Mexico’s beer failures this stuff is like heaven.
Belikin Stout
Belikin also comes in a stout version which is 6.5% and is my preferred choice and probably that of the local alcoholics too. The English influence is clear.
The beer cost 3 Belize dollars which is about £1 which sounds good until you realise the bottles are only 284ml. Another valid reason to prefer the stout. But there is a very good reason for smaller bottles, the temperature in Belize is so hot that your beer will turn warm very quickly. The small bottle means you can drink up before it goes warm.
After speaking with one of the local distributors of Belkin I am now informed that the Belize Brewing Company is looking to expand its business outside of Belize, so watch out for this fantastic Belizean beer in a town near you.
Guinness
Although not actually Belizean this version of Guinness is very different from the drink found in the UK. For a start its 7.5% and goes straight to your head. There’s no pint of Guinness here only a small glass bottle of strong stout. It works well for me another top beer in Belize.
Lighthouse
The beer market in Belize is pretty limited. There’s Belikin beer, Belikin stout and Guinness. However Lighthouse beer shows up in a few bars and restaurants. It turns out its also brewed by the Belize Brewing Company, the same company that brews Belikin and bottles Guinness, I’m put off by the fact the beer is 4.2% and only 237ml. That’s roughly the same capacity of my mouth!
I don’t think I seen anyone drinking this except Leanne who tried it once and she appeared very opinionated, “It just tastes like beer”.
