Cuba beer in short supply

I'm glad I went to Cuba when I did, in Sept 2015. The main reason I went was because I knew that relationships between Cuba and the USA were improving and that Americans would be flocking to Cuba once the travel restrictions were lifted. And the lifting of the embargoes etc would mean that American products would be flooding in, and there would be a lot of development as well as the threat of the old cars being sold and exported from Cuba.

One thing I didn't envisage was a shortage of beer! Apparently the influx of American visitors to Cuba has led to this shortage. Also there is an increase in private restaurants and bars, which also need beer.

The state owned brewer, Cerveceria Bucanero produces two beers, Cristal and Bucanero.

I preferred the Bucanero.

Another beer I tried was Presidente, but this is imported from the Dominican Republic.

See article in City AM on 11 April 2016, "Tourist boom straining Cuban beer industry" by Francesca Washtell :

"The influx of American tourists into Cuba may have worked wonders for its travel and leisure industry, but the boom has taken a toll on the country’s main brewer.

In recent weeks beer sellers have been running out of the Caribbean island’s two favourite brands, Cristal and Bucanero.

The shortages have been fuelled by the increase in American visitors, as well as a rise in the number of private bars, reported Reuters.

Cerveceria Bucanero, the state-owned brewer which produces both brands, is a joint venture with the world’s largest brewer, Belgium’s Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Bucanero will need a new plant to keep pace the demand from tourists and private restaurants.

Cuba’s visitor numbers swelled to a record 3.5m in 2015, up 17 per cent from 2014. The number of American tourists, referred to locally as “Yanquis”, rose 77 per cent to 161,000 last year, after travel restrictions were eased in early 2015.

Small restaurants have also added strain to the country’s beer market. Their numbers have blossomed since President Raul Castro formalised changes designed to remove the Communist state from many small-scale economic activities five years ago. They have since become popular with both tourists and local residents.

In March, Starwood Hotels & Resorts announced it would become the first US-based hospitality company to enter the Cuba in nearly 60 years, after it received authorisation from the US Treasury to run three hotels - Hotel Inglaterra, Hotel Quinta Avenida and Hotel Santa Isabel - on the island.

The US embassy was reestablished in Cuba in August 2015, following an agreement between US president Barack Obama and Raul Castro to reinstate diplomatic relations between the two countries in December 2014.

Obama became the first sitting president in 88 years to visit the country last month."