The booze cruise so far.
Zepher
Chris & Lyn Darch
Sat 29 Mar 2008 13:15
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Hi Folks.
It was wet and windy a couple of days back.
You know the sort of thing, heavy over cast skies, blustery showers and
the temperature barely hitting 30c. It was too wet for heading inshore, we
sailors don't really like getting wet especially the divers among us! So
it was decided to have a film matinee, with our fellow travellers,
the guys on Rhythm (let them get wet). One day in Barbados I was
complaining to an old guy on the beach about getting wet whilst coming ashore
and he just said to me "you cant go to sea and not get wet" a simple truth I
have yet to accept. Anyway in preparation for our film I went to stock up
our refrigerator with some beer. Chris keeps it guarded/stored in a locker
next to his bunk for some reason. When rummaging through the locker for a
few cans I found that we still had Dorado a brew which has come all the way from
Lanzarote. There was also some Biere Lorainne from Martinique. It
got me thinking about some of the other potions I have imbibed along this
journey. There was the ubiquitous and aptly named Carib which popped up
every where in the Caribbean. However in Barbados our beer of choice was
Banks, a most refreshing drink. Of course Barbados is also home to Mount
Gay rum. We visited the distillery whilst there and learned all about the
making of rum. It was actually only a batching and bottling plant that was
saw around, which dated back over two hundred years. The rum is produced
in differing stages over three locations. We also learned that 15% of the
rum is consumed by Barbadans which is probably why they were such a happy
lot. Next we were at Tobago where our preferred tipple was
Stag. Tasted better than it sounds. On joining Zephyranthes in
Martinique we met up with the aforementioned Biere Lorainne. The San Blas
folks make some sort of brew from their palm trees. We didn't get the
chance to try this one out, but if it's anything like palm wine which I met on
previous travels, we haven't missed out on much. Now we are in Cristobal
harbour Colon (two weeks down three to go) we have had ample opportunity to
try out Panamanian brews at the Panama Yacht club. Least favourite is
Atlas, followed by Balboa. Named after the conquistador who first crossed
the Panama peninsula. Anyway our favourite is simply called Panama, and
it's the cheapest, which is nice. See pic. of me looking happy having just
spent $3.50 on 1.5 litres of the stuff.
 I'm actually a real ale man and all that I
have discussed so far is lager not really beer at all. Oh for a pint of
Green King IPA. Things have looked up a little though. Whilst in the
supermarket, our highlight of the day. Now I know why one sees so many
OAP's there. I found some genuine Carlsberg Elephant beer. A
brilliant brew all the way from Copenhagen. It's an acceptable
lager. I got six little bottles of the stuff, and am keeping it for a
rainy day. That reminds me. It was a rainy day which set me off on
this sojourn through beers of our voyage. Perhaps I could write a
"Goodbeer" guide for sailors. Anyway, if there was still cans of
Dorado left from Lanzarote, which is over four months ago and we have had
Christmas and New Year since then, (admittedly Chris has on ocasion made the
occasional glass or two of rum punch!) it would appear that we are not
consuming as much booze as some might think. In fact it is probably been
due to our own poetic licence that the impression was given that we are on a
booze cruise at all. The real booze cruise has just hauled into porto
Cristobal, it's the Queen Mary 2. I bet they don't sit here for five weeks
waiting on a transit of the canal. Speaking of Cristobal, the area is
named after Christopher Columbus who was here in 1492. Cristobal Colon
being the correct why of saying his name. From what I can gather the
Spanish spoken here is old Spanish, as opposed to modern Spain
Spanish. I guess it's a bit like old Shakespearean English as opposed
to our modern day English. If Chris was 600 years old he might be called
Cristobal, I wonder if he would like that? By the way, I thrashed him at
his game last night, even after he made me sit in the so called
"unlucky" seat, and they were all ganging up against me. Which just goes
to prove what I have been telling him, Uno really is a game of
skill.
At this typing has made me thirsty. I,m off for a
cup of tea now.
May your glass always be half full.
Rob.
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