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| One way Piton supports not drinking and driving? Piton signage is presents on all the island’s covered bus depots. It seems the U.S. is not alone in blending civic and corporate in exchange for brand prominence. |
Coke may “open happiness” but beer’s better for quenching thirst than sugar water in 85 degree weather with 85% humidity. While Coca-Cola (but not Pepsi or to Wayne’s woe, Coca-Cola’s Mountain Dew, diet or otherwise) is very visible here, U.S. beers are brand lightweights, virtually non-existent in the Caribbean. Instead, beer brands are for the most part, a matter of local pride. The winners are obvious, well, usually….
St. Lucia
Piton Beer… on bus stop signs, tavern signage marked by Piton, sometimes with name on the Piton sign. The Pitons are St. Lucia’s picturesque volcanic peaks.
Martinique
Lorraine Beer (doin’ my Mama proud … see post) … Not sure the significance of the Lorraine for name to Dominicans, but will update this post if I find out with the info)
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| A sign on a roadside restaurant/bar on the way to Trafalgar Falls in Dominica |
Dominica
Kubuli… need to confirm what that means and update this.
Broader Caribbean
Caribe … they’re the bad-asses who ferociously fought and successfully kept the Europeans at bay when other natives welcomed them with open arms… and like so many natives, paid the price.
Invaders
Heineken is both prominent and ubiquitous (and even part of the MS Word spell check dictionary!), with Coronas a distant second.
Imposters
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| C’mon…. Tequila is just not a French booze. Then again, “Desperado” sounds much more like something from a spaghetti Western supposedly set in Mexico than a French elixir. Ahem, you might however have noticed this is .. empty. Ok, we confess; we like Desperados. |
Desperado… a beer-tequila mix from France.
Guadaloupe & “The Saints”
We’re in Guadaloupe now. Thus far, haven’t figured out what “hops,” locally, for here or “Les Saintes” a group of adjacent islands which are part of Guadaloupe, but its own entity as well.
Mom found the source of her namesake beer…. from this webiste
http://www.uncommoncaribbean.com/2010/02/26/friday-happy-hour-biere-lorraine/ which goes on to say…
Rum may rule the roost when it comes to Caribbean libations, but the region also boasts a rich array of beers, each as distinctive as the islands they call home. On this particular Friday, we’re jonesing for a light, refreshing Biere Lorraine.
Ever since 1919, when an enterprising French engineer named Rene de Jaham decided in the wake of WWI that it would be a good idea to brew beer in the French West Indies, Martinique has been blessed with one of the region’s finest lagers. Jaham named his beer in tribute to the French Region of Lorraine, home to France’s richest beer-making tradition (Lorraine’s oldest brews date back to 5,000 B.C.) and the place where he learned the beermaster’s craft.