Good Chilean Beers in Santiago

It's 5 o'clock somewhere so I'll write about Chilean beer. As mentioned before beers of Chile tend toward the unremarkable a la Cristal and Escudo, but there are some exceptions well worth mentioning.

And with 33mL bottles being the common fare, I'm talking about beer on tap, called schop.

Cerveza del Puerto, from the port city Valparaíso, is one of Chile's finest. The dark beer. The lager tastes funny and I haven't tried the malt. In other words, you'll do best pulling on the tap that's front and center, not crooked or blurred by the flash. You'll also steer morally clear from any copyright violation complicity that those other two taps probably imply.

So if want to know where to go out for a good beer in Santiago, Chile, your choices are often limited but there are choices.

BarCasa, pictured below, is a horrible dive. Sadly, I don't think it fancies itself a dive. The fluorescent red light floating out from behind the white naughahide sofa lining three walls, flat screen TVs playing music videos and South Park clips on mute, out of sink with the cheesy R&B shit on the radio. It's following the colorful fluorescent lava-lamp-esque trend that all the bars in Barrio Brasil are going for, this faux nightclub feel that if done well would be sufficiently depressing for its falseness.



Mostly, though, it's done poorly. Equally depressing but at least slightly comical; despite all the production, this low-budget operation called BarCasa can't even hide the brightly lit entrance to the bathroom stalls with fake wooden doors and fake brass handles resemble doors that lead into janitorial closets in cheap office buildings, and they're prominently visible throughout the bar.

Upstairs at BarCasa, the bar is lit with those red fluorescent lights but overall it's got a much more rustic, knotty wooden feel. Poker tables, shifty eyed characters. It'd be preferable, but the last time I was here both the upstairs and downstairs caused me to begin wheezing and within seconds my clothes began to wreak. People here tend to smoke like insecure teenagers. Five will light up at once and puff furiously, then repeat that 17 times in a sitting, a veritable factory.



So I sat outside in the bitter cold, instead breathing in the fumes of an idling car. Anything for Cerveza del Puerto. I think its about 3 bucks for a tall, frothy delicious pint. BarCasa is located on Avda Brasil 256. From Plaza Brasil, start walking toward the Alameda and it'll be on your right. If anyone can tell me about another place in Santiago that serves Cerveza del Puerto, I will canonize you.

Oceanik is another one of the good Chilean beers, it's like a pale ale, crisp, full bodied and refreshing. In fact, it's the only good non-dark Chilean beer available on tap in Santiago. There are others like it in the South. I think Oceanik might be my favorite Chilean beer. You can get it on tap at the Berri, just off Lastarria in Santiago Centro.



Kunstmann is fine, dark or pale, and probably one of the most accessible "artisan" beers throughout Chile. But where to find it on tap? Again, Barrio Brasil has a place called Santo Barrio which will serve you a pint for just over 2 bucks. It's on Avda Brasil, the other side of the street from Bar Casa and down toward the Alameda a few more blocks, just ask around.

Know of any more beer halls or bars in Santiago, Chile with beer on tap? Leave it in the comments and I'll check it out.