Imperial Beer is the most popular and readily available beer in Costa Rica – but is it any good?
The Research
About Imperial Beer:
Imperial Beer was first produced in 1924. Known to Costa Ricans affectionately as “aguilita” or “little eagle”, Imperial Beer bills itself as the “world’s first water positive beer”. What does this mean? Simply that the product returns to the ecosystem more water than it takes from the environment during its elaboration process.
Sounds like an overly-complicated marketing pitch to me, but if true it would fit right in with the eco-tourism ethic of Costa Rica, and I say “cheers” to that.
More research
The Review: Imperial Beer
Imperial Beer is a straight-up solid, but lighter, Latin-American lager with European roots – not unlike Mexican beers like Dos Equis or Bohemia.
It has a 4.6% alcohol content and goes good with salt and lime. It’s been called the “Budweiser of Costa Rica”, but I’d say that’s a little unfair. I found it drinkable, refreshing, and enjoyable in the tropical heat.
I’ve seen four different varieties of Imperial Beer in Costa Rica: The Lager, Light, Silver, and Black. The Lager and Light were my favorites, the Silver being a little smoother and watered-down (Coors Light-ish). The Black was the non-alcoholic variety and horribly undrinkable.
I’ve seen the Lager widely available in the U.S. if you get the hankering to give it a try.
Cheers!
