Punta Cana Beer
For the last 20+ years my wife and I have been taking one of our annual vacations in the Dominican Republic in a region called “Punta Cana”. We have spent time at other Caribbean destinations, like Cancun and Aruba, but the DR continues to fill our need for palm trees, white beaches, relaxation, and at a reasonable price. In those years we have stayed at several resorts, moving to a new one when the normal changes over time pushed to find a new place. Our current resort is called the Melia Punta Cana Beach Wellness. It is our first “adults-only” resort and I don’t think that I will ever want to go back to “family-style” resorts. We like kids (we have two of our own), but the lack of “Marco Polo” echoing around the pool made things much more quiet and relaxing.
I have to be honest that “beer” has never been my primary alcoholic drink when in the DR. Like a few other Caribbean islands, the DR has their own style of rum that they produce on the island and I enjoy that MUCH more than the beer that is available at these resorts. Craft beer really does not exist here, but with the excellent rum to sample, I really don’t miss it for the two weeks we spend there. If I do have a desire for a beer, the resort stocks two different kinds of Dominican beer, Presidente and Canita. Both of these beers are available either at a bar on tap, in a restaurant as a can, or in your room mini fridge.
A few years ago, the resort changed from serving Presidente “everywhere” to beginning to serve Canita at the bars on tap and at all of the restaurants. I did not welcome this change, as Presidente is, in my opinion, a much better beer. Presidente is a Pilsner, and goes down pretty easily. Particularly if drunk from the small, 8-oz cans that they stocked in our mini fridge, which I suspect was kept very near freezing. There is nothing like that frosty can of beer on a typical hot and humid day, along with a few snacks, to quench your thirst. The brewer, Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana in Santo Domingo, brews several other types of beer. Over the years, between servings at resorts and beers bought at the airport, I have had a few of these, like their Presidente Light, Presidente Golden Light, and Bohemia Light. I didn’t find any of these other beers to be quite as good as the OG Presidente.
The switch to Canita from Presidente at the resort came as a surprise to me. Prior to it showing up at the resort, I had never ever heard of Canita before. I remember being a little bit excited about being introduced to a new beer. That excitement was quickly squashed the first time that I tasted it… as it was not very good. I’m sure that the resort made this change for monetary reasons and not because it was a better beer, because it is not. The resort has only had the Light Lager version of this beer since it was introduced, though the brewer, Cerveceria Punta Cana, makes other types of beers… Amber Lager, American Light Lager, etc. Based on my experience at the resort, I don’t expect to seek out this beer at other places.
The resort does carry a few other beers that would be more recognizable to American and Canadian travelers, such as Heineken and Coors Light. I’ve seen these offered in a couple of different-sized containers. If you pick them up at the Level Lounge, you can get full-sized cans or aluminum “bottles”. In your room, I’ve only seen the smaller cans stocked there. I am not a big fan of either of these beers, so it’s not something I would seek out, unless I had no other options and “had” to have a beer.
