A blind taste test: Which of these ‘Cuban’ beers that you can find in Miami is the best?
When several new beers that purport to be Cuban hit South Florida store shelves in the last year, we had to investigate.
First were they really imported from Cuba? And second, which one tastes the best?
The first question required some investigating to which we devoted quite a bit of reporting. In short, all three are U.S. companies using creative marketing to invoke the Cuban beer Cristal, the best-selling beer on the island. Because of the embargo and disputes over who owns the Cristal name, the actual Cuban beer isn’t sold in the United States.
The three you can buy — at supermarkets and liquor stores across Miami — each have their own characteristics. We filmed a blind taste taste and came away with these thoughts on each.
Palma
This beer, owned by a California man, Martin Wadley, creatively copies the label of the Cuban beer, down to the tagline, “La Preferida de Cuba,” Cuba’s preferred beer. That’s a tough case to make when this Palma is actually not sold on the island. It’s brewed in Nicaragua and imported.
This beer is the lightest of all three and that’s probably why it’s most like the current Cristal. It’s a pale yellow color, has a crisp, not-unpleasant bitter bite (like a dry white wine) and feels the most refreshing. A perfect beach beer.
Mi Cristal
Tony Haber, a Florida International grad, immigrated from Cuba at 14, served in the U.S. Navy and started several wine and liquor brands, which is what gave him for the idea for Mi Cristal. He hired a Portuguese company to brew his beer and imports it. It’s now available at Latin supermarkets such as Sedano’s and Presidente, specialty liquor stores, and will soon be in big-box retailers like Costco and BJ’s Wholesale
Mi Cristal pours slightly darker than Palma. It has a maltier flavor, and that makes it almost creamier. It feels more satisfying to sip, rather than pound, as you might a Palma on a hot beach day.
La Tropical’s La Original
If pedigree matters, La Original is the most-Cuban of the non-Cuban beers. It’s brewed in Wynwood in a partnership between Heineken and descendants of the original owners of La Tropical, Cuba’s first brewery, which opened in eastern Havana in 1888. La Tropical created the Cristal brand in Cuba as its light beer, but lost it when the communist state nationalized all private businesses.
This is the most balanced of all the three beers. This golden amber lager is crisp and refreshing like Palma, but has more body, like Mi Cristal.
Which is the best? That will obviously depend on your beer preference. Bartender Adrian Castro at Union Beer Store, where we filmed a blind taste test, liked Palma best. Our photographer, Matías Ocner, preferred La Tropical. And I floated between Mi Cristal and La Tropical.
This story was originally published September 15, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
