July 7, 2009

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Panama Beer And Other Panamanian Drinks

By Matt Atlee

In the early 1960s Panama had a ton of different breweries and therefore different beers. The competition between the different breweries was so high that a war between the breweries broke out. This became known as the “Brewery Wars”. Gangs would go around destroying the bottles of rival breweries. As the brewery wars wore on, two major breweries began to dominate the beer market: Cervecería Nacional and Cervecería Baru. To this day they are the two major beer producers in Panama. So like after Prohibition in the U.S., the highly competitive beer market in Panama gave way to an oligopoly – few producers, few beers.

Which is the best Panamanian beer is a question that I am hardly ever asked. For me the best Panamanian beer is called Panama. There are many different beers other than Panama in Panama. One of the more popular beers is called Atlas, which is weak but easy on your mind and body: that’s one of the reasons why Panamanians like it so much. But if you are really into weak beer then you should try Soberana which is the nearest thing I’ve come across to non-alcoholic-alcoholic beer. Soberana is a morning beer; it’s especially good with a Panamanian breakfast of fried bread (Holadre) and chopped beef or liver cooked in onions. Soberana is easy on the stomach and head; it is designed, I think, to make you only think you are drinking beer. The nice thing about Soberana is that drinking it never makes you feel guilty and this is one of the reasons why it’s such a great breakfast beer.

When I first came to Panama my favorite beer was Balboa. After I learned a little Spanish and started to talk with people at bars, cantinas and nightclubs, I learned that Balboa was stronger than Atlas. People always told me this with complete seriousness. It was true; Balboa was stronger than Atlas – I drank Balboa only at nightclubs. It was strong, but also cheap; it was a cheap, strong beer that left me numb the next day.

I changed beers after a time and I moved to a dark beer which was called HB. HB was easiest to find in Chiriqui Province, Panama. Its sister beer was called Cristal, which disappeared, but is now back on the market. HB is a beer that you can’t find today in Panama. It has come and gone and will some day return, I guess.

After HB I started to drink Atlas. This was at a time when I was going to lots of dances in the countryside or small towns in the provinces. The dances were fun places to meet people and talk and the music was good. The Panamanian countryside is set to Panamanian country music. To know the countryside in Panama, and to understand life there, you have to listen to Panamanian country music and drink Panamanian beer.

I stopped drinking Atlas because I learned that it was better to drink whiskey at Panamanian dances. A bucket of ice and a glass or plastic cup with ice and whiskey was better than beer. Whiskey was better because you never had to go to the bathroom. The dance became much more comfortable when you didn’t have to worry about running to an overcrowded, primitive urinal or toilet. The whiskey went down smooth as you stayed away from the bathroom.

It was one of he older men in Cañazas – the town I lived above – that recommended that I stop drinking beer and go with whiskey. He liked to drink Chivas Whiskey on the rocks: it was a relatively cheap whiskey in Panama and could be bought at the small shops in the interior. The silver box it came in always made it look more expensive than it really was. But I ended up drinking Old Parr Whiskey which to me is really one of the best and cheapest whiskeys in the tropics. Blended whiskey is better in hot weather. And Old Parr is blended so it’s not too strong. Johnnie Walker was another popular whiskey – maybe the most popular.

Now in the countryside of Panama people like to make their own hard alcohol. There are three you should try: Chicha Fuerte, Garapo, and Vino de Palma. Of the three I like Chicha Fuerte the most. Chicha Fuerte is just good old corn alcohol. The alcohol comes from corn that is cooked and grinded into a paste mixed with water and then fermented in plastic jugs. But this is something you can only drink in the countryside of Panama, because you need the open air and hills of the deep countryside – the only place you’ll find it – to really get the flavor of this drink. Chicha tastes best during the dry summer months in Panama.

Garapo is another popular drink in the countryside of Panama. Garapo is sugarcane alcohol, like rum, but 400% times more rough and crazy than the rum you find in America or Canada. Usually people will drink Garapo when they are just back from the fields, say, in the early afternoon. Most Panamanian farmers leave for the fields very early, around 4 or 5am; they get up at 3am. They return at 12:00 or 1:00pm; early morning, early afternoon.

To make Garapo, farmers will sit around and push sugarcane stalks through a trapiche which is like a press. It has two rollers between which stalks of surgarcane are squeezed of their juice. Some times there is a small horse that walks around the trapiche and acts as the muscle to turn the rollers, but most often in the hills people turn the rollers themselves. When people are the muscle there is always a lot straining going on around the trapiche. Garapo can be very refreshing and in its early stages gives you a very energetic feeling; it’s just sugar. But later you start feeling the boom grow. You’ll end up blabbering tons of foolishness if you drink too much garapo.

The last drink is called Vino de Palma. It’s a drink that comes from palm trees. You cut down the palm and wait eight days for the palm wine inside the palm to ferment. This is the same kind of palm that you cut hearts of palm out of for salads. Again Vino de Palma is a very strong drink. Look for the gusanos (worms) in the palm wine: they are dead but don’t drink palm wine too fast. You should drink palm wine very slowly that way you drink just palm wine and not anything else. Palm wine is drunk during or after work and is enjoyed in small groups out in the fields. This is a drink which really brings people together in the Panamanian countryside.

There is also moonshine in Panama and it is called chirisco and is about as bad as it gets as far as drinks go. The moonshine is sometimes mixed with battery acid or is fermented with a dead animal. Chirisco smells terrible – you could go blind drinking chirisco – be careful.

Like anything, you’ll find your own drink in Panama, I can only offer my experience and it is limited.

Written By Matt Atlee

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