If you enjoy a beer or two, you might want to spend a good majority of your time in Brazil, in the southern state of Santa Catarina. Here in the Vale Europeu, the German influence means you’ll find various breweries with a variety of stimulating cervejas.
In the biggest and most German city in the Vale Europeu, Blumenau, you will not only find one of the world’s largest Oktoberfest Festivals, you’ll also find some great traditional German breweries like the fitting Wunderbier Brewery. Not one of the old breweries, but brewing in the traditional fashion, Wunderbier produces some wonder beers like their classic lager, fruity hefeweizen, and deep red lager, similar to a pale ale.
The Schornstein Brewery in Pomerode has arguably the most tantalizing label ever, and the liquid inside is equally impressive. They have a wide range of beers to choose from that range from the normal fizzy, refreshing German lagers, including an award winning, hoppy IPA and another award winner, a dark Imperial Stout which will put some hair on your chest.
In the north of the State, this brewery prides itself on the traditional style of brewing, and its traditional recipes brought over from Germany, but does also venture out to try other things. In fact, one of the favourites here is an award-winning line of fruit beers that have the taste of a lager, but end with the aroma of fruit, something very refreshing to be enjoyed in the Brazilian afternoon sun.
Heimat take over six centuries of traditional unaltered brewing techniques, and add a touch of modern day technology to iron out any possible problems and perfect their brewing process. Along with their dedication to using the finest ingredients, this produces a clean, full bodied, refreshing brew that is best enjoyed on tap, right at the brewery.
Another terrific brewery to add to your Blumenau brewery crawl, which is how you might be getting between the final breweries, is the Eisenbahn stop. Light, dark, hoppy, sweet – whatever type of beer you’re into, they produce it at top quality. If you aren’t sure what you’re in the mood for, you can try a taster of four different types to see what you fancy.
Well out of the center of Blumenau, on a relatively empty country road resembling a road through the German countryside, sits Cervejaria Das Bier. The brewery was established with an old family recipe to provide quality beer to the neighbouring settlers, and they obviously did a fantastic job as this brewery now produces 12 different varieties of beer for the whole country.
An unfiltered wheat weizen, a heavy-but-refreshing red lager, a malt beer, and the German staple, a Pilsner – the Borck brewery keeps it simple, and genuine. Started by a beer lover who abandoned the corporate life and both figuratively and literally poured his soul into his passion to create a range of quality delicious beers, Borck have produced terrific cervejas for over two decades now.
Another nation with a deeply rooted brewing history is Britain, and even though there’s not a great deal of British influence in this part of the world, the British Beer Container is bringing even a little more variety to the eclectic beer options. Their Bakerloo is a robust pale ale, low in carbonation, with less hops and bitterness than an IPA, while the Wembley is a blonde ale which is a smooth, sometimes malty ale with a touch of sweetness.
