Andrew Strain Photography

Heavy rain in Pucon is putting a serious damper on my plans to climb the Villarrica Volcano while I´m here. We leave for Santiago tomorrow night, and the forecast looks... well, better than today. Fingers crossed the situation improves.

With soggy skies (am I home already?? Southern Chile feels alot like Vancouver) there wasn´t much to do other than hit up the supermarket and buy singles of all the different craft beers brewed here in Chile. The north may be for the wines, beer definitely seems to be the fermentation of choice in the south. A strong German influence in this area means most beers are brewed in adherence to the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. Breweries such as Kunstmann (Valdivia) and Austral (Punta Arenas) provide many delicious options. My only complaint is that many of the offerings that I tried were a little bland - highly drinkable, just a little uninteresting. I´ve yet to see an IPA on the supermarket shelves - maybe I´ll just have to look harder tonight.

Home in Vancouver! No, its just Pucon...


Kunstmann (Valdivia)Unfiltered Lager. I really enjoyed this one.



After the tasting, we headed out to a bar for some 2 for 1 drinks, followed by some casino action. I won 9000 playing blackjack. 9000...Pesos. Yeah, thats less than 20 bucks.

Some more photos of my samplings in the full post:

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Polar Imperial Lager, Punta Arenas, Chile:


The Austral family (Punta Arenas, Chile):


Volcanes del Sur Premium Lager:


Dorada - this one was ultra cheap, and strong. Surprisingly good, too.