Kalik, Bahamas’ own award-winning beer
Bahamian laws are pretty reasonable when it comes to beer drinking. You can walk down the street with an open bottle of it, sit on the curb, or ride in a cab while drinking it –- as long as you do it one at a time and it must be in a brown paper bag. Stores are willing to sell you a single, open it for you right there on the spot and even put it in the brown paper bag for you.
Whether you are soaking up the sun on a pure white sandy beach, grabbing a bite at the fish fry or dining in fine style, the absolute favorite beverage of locals and visitors in the Bahamas is Kalik. Brewed exclusively in the Bahamas, it garners more than half the market share of beer sales every year, and is a reflection of its culture.
The brew’s rather odd name makes perfect sense when you realize that “kalik” is the sound made by cowbells, one of the chief musical instruments used by the bands that accompany the very colorful Junkanoo parades several times a year all throughout the Bahamas.
Kalik is the national drink of the Bahamas, according to many. You can get it anywhere in the islands where beer is sold and returning visitors cram their luggage with as much of it as they can legally take home with them –- it’s that good!
Kalik is the perfect thirst quencher -– better than Gatorade, they say. Mild, rather light and mellow, it’s an all-day beer –- and all evening, too! You can have a few and yet still keep a level head.
The Kalik brewery in the Bahamas, Commonwealth Brewery Ltd, was established in 1984, producing the original Kalik. Since that time, the brewing capacity has grown to 1.7 million cases per annum. Kalik Gold was introduced in 1992, and Kalik Light became the newest member of the Kalik family in 1998. In spite of the fact that you can’t purchase Kalik anywhere else in the world, it has won three consecutive Monde Selection Gold Medals from the International Institute for Beer Quality Selections.
