In any new city, I have to try the local brews. Give me microbrews first---like Full Sail or Red Hook in the Pacific Northwest, East End or Church Brew Works in Pittsburgh. Then whatever can't be had somewhere else---Widmer, Yuengling, Miller High Life Lite.
Argentina is wine country, known for cabs & malbecs (and you can drink fucking cheap---no 2-buck-chuck compromises in taste here). But the country also has a handful of breweries & shelves of big-ass bottles (usually 970 mL). Quilmes reigns king, with it's blue-and-white signs pasted in the windows of nearly every corner store celebrating its 120 años. Quilmes Cristal is a light, smooth beer---on par with a Budweiser (not surprising since it's owned by InBev) and running 3 to 4.5 pesos for a 970 bottle (which equates to about 75 cents or a dollar US). You can get cans and bottles at the checkout of the supermarket in coolers where you'd expect the Rockstar energy drinks to be. (Though only fools would anything but the 970---a 12-oz can costs almost the same)
Palermo and Iguana are Quilmes in different bottles---they're even brewed by the same company. Wolfsteiner & Schneider might as well be also. They're all basic standby whatever beers that go down easy when cold. Isenbeck and Brahma Chopp are PBR dressed up in Argentine bottles. No difference from the Blue Ribbon, not even in price. Schneider produces a stout which is actually stout-like, though very drinkable---none of the heaviness you find in European or American Northwest stouts. Quilmes, not to be outdone, mixes it up with three (3) alternate varieties: Quilmes Red Lager, Quilmes Bock, and, of course, Quilmes Stout. The Red Lager is Argentine Killians. Not bad---worth the 4 pesos. I haven't yet tried their stout. It's almost summer, too hot for the dark beers. The Bock, though, stands up as the best mass-produced Argentine beer I've had so far. Deceptively dark, it's smooth and easy to drink on a hot day on the terrace while still having some flavor (which the Cristal lacks). If you're cruising the Jumbo supermarket for a liter of cheap beer, make it the Bock.
But if you need to get fancy, Stella Artois is the Argentine's classy beer. It runs about 7 pesos for a liter. I don't really count it among the running for "Argentinian beers," though it is produced and bottle here. It's indistinct from the Belgian Stella, except significantly fucking cheaper. (Take that, Belgians.)
After having lived in the American Pacific Northwest, home to most of the world's hops and to most of America's microbreweries, it's hard to stick to the equivalent of domestics, even if they are new to me.
But a few days after arriving, feeling homesick for a decent brew, Jess & I stumbled upon a microbrewery called Antares in the Palermo district, maybe 15 blocks away. It's a swank joint, more nightclub atmosphere than the Rogue pub or Full Sail would have. They were serving an Oktoberfest (weird to drink on a warm spring night), and when we ordered the sampler, the Oktoberfest punctuated the line of tiny glasses. The sampler rolled like this: Kolsch, Scotch Ale, Porter, Honey Ale, Cream Stout, Barley Wine, Imperial Stout, Oktoberfest. The breakdown: Kolsch was a decent lager---better than Quilmes, but nothing special. Scotch Ale & Oktoberfest were almost identical---malty flavors, a little thick. The Honey Ale tasted like a hefewiessen even though it wasn't---I have yet to see one wheat beer here. The Porter was great---and this after I had announced I prefer stouts to porters always. The Cream Stout killed the Imperial, though it was less alcoholic. And the Barley Wine was only 8% and didn't have any hops bite whatsoever, which makes me believe the appellate of "Barley Wine" to that beer is utter bullshit. Their signs promised a Pale Ale, but only in bottles, and those were crazy expensive. Pints run about 20 pesos or more at this place (it knows it's hip & that it attracts gringos like me).
Antares and its few microbrew compatriots in the city aren't hocking their limited runs in six packs in the local stores, though. So for now, it's Quilmes Bock, 4.50 a liter.
Next stop: Buller Pub in Recoleta.
Also, in the interest of networking, I found the Antares website through this guy.
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