Cruizin’ For Brews: “Got Any Craft Beer On This Boat?”

 

, Cruizin’ For Brews: “Got Any Craft Beer On This Boat?”

 

Escaping from the madness of our modern culture, constant electronic connectivity and maybe even the political noise we’re enduring these days can be done many ways. Most opt for a spot on the beach somewhere, a short trip out of town or any adventure that can give us a chance to breathe deep again.

 

Recently I was lucky enough to spend 14 days aboard one of Princess Cruise’s newest and largest ships, the Regal Princess, for a transatlantic cruise from Florida to Northern Europe. It was my best chance of escape and my longest time offline in years – 6+ days while crossing the Atlantic. It was also my first cruise and first visit to Europe.

Nearly 400 years ago it took the Pilgrims 66 days to traverse the same ocean, which I’m sure saw many die and plenty starving or eating unsavory food, with no fancy drinks. Today you can eat yourself silly with unlimited food at your disposal and order most any drink you’d like whilst bobbing away in a lazy stupor. 

But what about craft beer?

Well, it turns out there are some better ways to satiate your inner beer nerd than finding yourself aboard a transatlantic voyage. Here’s what I experienced and more options for cruises where you can drink better beer while at sea.

Princess Cruises Seawitch Beers

Before I got onboard, I hoped to find even a modest, large scale craft beer on tap or at least in cans or bottles. Nope… the only things on tap were Heineken and Newcastle. They had bottles and cans of most of the expected domestics, but I mainly enjoyed Guinness and Boddington’s Ale (both nitro 16oz cans), Stella Artois, Bass and Grolsch (flip-top bottle). Not a bad international selection, as those go.

I at least expected to see Sam Adams or something from Florida, San Diego or Seattle (all ports Princess visits), but no such luck. What they do offer are three beers they contracted to have made via three separate brewers, each featuring a different region they regularly visit in North America: a West Coast IPA, an East Coast Blonde, an Alaska Style Red Ale. 

Keep in mind, these are only available on Princess, so don’t expect to see them on land. Also remember that the average age of the passengers aboard was probably 65, so the craft beer demographic wasn’t really there except for a handful of us crazy dark hairs.

I won’t mention who brews the West Coast IPA because it was arguably one of the worst IPA’s I’ve had. We’d never heard of the brewer, but the hop profile was not pleasant and had some off/vegetal flavors going on. They had expiration dates of September 2017, so we presumed they were about 6 months old, which didn’t help.

The Alaskan Style Red was quite good. It’s brewed by the Denali Brewing Company, which is located in Talkeetna, Alaska, but the label says it was brewed in New Brunswick, Canada. Huh? Their Blonde, brewed by Shipyard Brewing in Maine, was the best of the bunch – well balanced, moderately hopped and dynamic. Needless to say, it was these last two I drank most while aboard. Apparently they’re going to release an Australian themed beer next, so we’ll see how that turns out. 

, Cruizin’ For Brews: “Got Any Craft Beer On This Boat?”Carnival’s RedFrog Pub and The Vista

Since the launch of the Carnival Magic in 2011, Princess Cruises parent company has featured the RedFrog Pub which offers a draft beer called ThirstyFrog Red. I’ve seen multiple sites refer to it as a “private-label draft,” but in reality, it’s brewed by Anheuser-Busch… so there’s that. 

On the positive side, last I heard they are offering craft cans from brewers near their home ports, like Cigar City in Florida, Heavy Seas out of Baltimore, Alaskan Brewing on NW Passage cruises, Maui Brewing in Hawaii or Abita when leaving New Orleans. This makes way too much sense.

Their newest ship, Carnival Vista, just launched at the end of April and is the first to have an actual brewery aboard the ship, the RedFrog Pub and Brewery. They’ve partnered with Concrete Beach Brewery, a local Miami brewery, to create three varieties of their ThirstyFrog: an IPA, a wheat and a coffee stout. For more info, check out the Cruise and Brew’s blog, written by a brewer on the ship. Having freshly brewed beer is quite an amazing feat, yet there’s still no word if their Red will still be brewed by the purveyor of that America beer

, Cruizin’ For Brews: “Got Any Craft Beer On This Boat?”More Options

The ship known as the Norwegian Escape (NCL), one of the cruise line’s largest, claims to have opened the first “craft beer hall” at sea, called The District Brew House. Created alongside Wynwood Brewing of Miami, they offer 24 taps (mainly populated by European lagers/ales and a few from Wynwood ) and bottles from Victory, New Belgium, Lagunitas, Brooklyn, Chimay and St. Stefanis. With over 70+ options, it sounds like the best variety we’ve seen.

  • NCL also offers their Big Lebrewski Cruise which launches from Miami on a four day jaunt to Nassau and the Great Stirrup Cay in the Bahamas. It’s a music and craft beer themed voyage with nearly 20 bands and 17 legit brewers to try including Avery, Cascade, Dogfish Head, Boulevard, Funky Buddha, Left Hand, Stone and The Bruery among others.
  • Royal Caribbean’s Quantum and Anthem of the Seas ships claim to have created the first “gastropub at sea” called Michael’s Genuine Pub. They feature roughly 15 craft beers here, yet failed just a bit by listing PBR and Rolling Rock, not to mention Goose Island and Blue Point under the title of “Craft Beer” on their site.
  • There are always beer focused cruises, generally on rivers in Europe, but also regionally throughout North America.

In the end, most people take cruises to get away and try new things. And maybe even those cruise lines who cater to older generations might consider offering creative alcoholic options to try beyond the martini bar. While I loved every minute of my departure from reality for 2 weeks, especially the days I spent in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, there is something to be said about a week at sea without a solid variety of craft beer. I personal don’t recommend it, but that’s just me…

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