Bucanero Fuerte

Another one of those "WTF is this beer doing in Japan?!?"-type of reviews!

Yes, a honest-to-gosh Cuban beer, sampled on a quiet Monday night in Yokosuka, Japan.

I purchased this from a small imported liquor, wine, and beer store just a short walk from my hotel room. A place packed with many of the beers coming from countries often visited by the local US Navy ships. The owner is no doubt banking on the fact that Navy guys actually want to relive their port visit to Australia with a stubby bottle of Victoria Bitter, or Castlemaine XXXX. Or a Bintang from Indonesia.

But where does this Cuban beer fit in?

Regardless, curiosity got the best of me, and I dropped some Yen on a single of this.

Pretty much your standard sub-par Caribbean/South American schwill. Too sweet for my liking, and yet also weirdly dusty-dry in the finish. There's nothing clean and thirst-refreshing about this one. Rather, I was actually thirstier after this than before!

All very weird. And none too appealing. Reminded me of Beliken, for better and mostly worse.

Probably a nice find for the "Around the World in 80 Beers" folks. Ditto for the bottle collecting types. But in no way is this worth seeking out for actually drinkin' and enjoyin' purposes....

Back to the Japanese stuff for me, thanks.
//TB