Ecuadorian Beer
I would kill everyone in
this room for a drop of sweet beer.
Beer!, The great contribution the Egyptians
left us, well, they also left us pyramids, but who drinks a pyramid?
Ecuadorians love beer, no doubt of it. If you live in a tropical country
where the temperature is as high as a sauna, beer is your No. 1 choice for
refreshment. A Cold glass of beer! that is. Well, some people in the Sierra
(Andes) usually drink room temperature Beer ,but that's only because the room
temperature up there is usually that of a refrigerator. In the warm coast of
Ecuador you always ask for a BIELA (short for Bie- la Bien Helada : Very Cold
one) anything else is undrinkable and is referred to as Caldo
de Pata in allusion to a soup made from Pig foot.
Beer in Ecuador was introduced at the turn of the
century by a company called Cerveceria Nacional, the original beer factory was
located in the "Barrio Las Peñas", the traditional neighborhood in
Guayaquil.
There are 4 main beer producers in Ecuador, and
since 2 of them (Cerveceria Nacional and Cerveceria Andina) are of the same
group and produce the same brands, you could narrow that to just 3, but either
way I'll list all 4 of them:
- Cerveceria Nacional.-
Ecuador's first and biggest beer maker, they produce Pilsener, Club, Nevada
and Chop beer. Located in Guayaquil.
- Cerveceria Andina.-
Of the same group than Cerveceria Nacional, they produce the same brands of
beer, but are located in Quito.
- Cerveza Nevada.- A
new brewer, produces a Pilsener type beer called Nevada (Snowy), they are
relatively new, but their beer is ok.
- Cerveceria Sudamericana.-
Producers of Biela® beer. With the money they stole from the clients of the
Filanbanco bank, the Isaías family made this ultra modern brewery. The beer
is of very high quality, although for my taste it Sucks. You shouldn't
confuse the brand name Biela® with the word "biela" used to
denote any beer. This is a lager type beer.
In recent years (10 - 15 years) some foreign beers
have come into the market, you can find almost any brand of foreign beer in the
country. But, since local beer is rather good (At least it's better than the
American ones), people still prefer the national brands.
This has been encouraged by a strong marketing campaign by the main producer to
maintain it's market and the development of new presentations. By the way,
Cerveceria Nacional has even started exporting beer to other countries with
their Export brand "Club Verde".