The Travel Chica

Live Simple. Consume Less. Experience More.

Buena Birra in Buenos Aires

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I have complained about the lack of good handcrafted beers in Latin America.

I thought I would find a better selection when I got to Buenos Aires, but I was disappointed by my initial attempts to find good beer here.

When I went home to Columbus, Ohio for a visit, I made it a point to drink some good beers (especially IPAs), assuming I wouldn’t have another opportunity for a while.

Then I heard about Buena Birra Social Club.

Buena Birra Social Club

Buena Birra Social Club is a puerta cerrada, or a closed-door, reservation-only establishment.  I had been to an excellent puerta cerrada restaurant, and the concept of a puerta cerrada where they make their own handcrafted beer was intriguing.

I decided to break my vow to stop trying craft beers in Argentina. Yes, there had been many disappointments.

But I had to check out Buena Birra.

Maria Eugenia and Ariel are brother and sister.  Ariel, affectionately called Toti by his friends, has been making his own beer for about 10 years, which is pretty impressive because this has only recently become a popular trend in the US and is much less common in Argentina.

After the encouragement (read: hounding) of friends, they decided to open their puerta cerrada and invite people to come and enjoy their brews.  They just celebrated the one-year anniversary of their restaurant/ bar.

The Atmosphere

The house is located in a non-touristy but pretty cool neighborhood called Colegiales.  Although it is not in a tourist area, it is still pretty easy to get there.  They have a good set-up with a few tables for groups and a small bar inside and an outdoor patio.  They play great music, but it isn’t too loud for having a conversation.

Photo of Buena Birra Interior

I loved the huge poster Periodic Table of Beer Styles.

Photo of Periodic Table

It reminded me of going to a favorite neighborhood bar for a relaxed evening.

While I was there, a group of musicians came in and sat at the bar, appearing to have either come for a practice session or maybe pre-gaming before a gig later than night.

Photo of beers at the bar

In Argentine terms, it has “great onda.”

Perhaps this is because they have grown in popularity through Facebook and word-of-mouth and have a lot of regular clientele.

The Beer

Since they brew the beer themselves, and they do not bottle and sell the beer outside of their puerta cerrada, they always have fresh beer on tap.  This also means the selection is limited, and they may run out of the especially popular styles after a week or so.

On my visit, they had 3 beers on tap, and they were all good.

The thing I noticed about all of the beers I tried is that they had a crisp, clean taste.

  • The Weizen had subtle fruits.
  • The Golden was light with just enough flavor.
  • The Brown was not too sweet.

Photo of beer samples

Didn’t take me long to finish these tasty beers.

Photo of empty beer samples

I explained to Ariel in my mediocre Spanish that IPA is my favorite type of beer, but they do not know how to make it in Argentina.  It never has enough hops, and it just tastes bad (the exception to this is Gülmen).

(Yes, I know this is because Argentines do not have a taste for the same style we drink at home, so of course, companies brew beer to fit the taste of the majority of the buyers.)

Ariel pointed to the APA with a line crossed through it on the chalkboard menu.

Photo of beer menu

He told me it was too bad they ran out of it last week because he thought I would really enjoy their American Pale Ale.

The two men sitting next to me at the bar overheard my conversation with Ariel.  The one said, “The APA is THE BEST beer they have.  You would love it.”

Well, that’s great. 

I am more of an instant-satisfaction kind of girl.  But I am supposed to be working on my patience, so I thought, “Maybe I can come back the next time they brew it.  Maybe they’ll have the IPA too.”

Look at me being an optimist.

Then Ariel came back with an unlabeled bottle and poured me ½ a pint.

Photo of APA

“What is this?” I asked.

“The APA.” 

He had an extra bottle stashed somewhere.

And he was sharing it with me.

I felt special.

It was worth the wait.  (Yeah, I know it was only like 10 minutes, but you get the point.)

If the American Pale Ale is this good, I bet the IPA will blow me away.  Ojala, I will have time to visit again before I leave Buenos Aires.

Check it out!

If you like good beer, I highly recommend a visit to Buena Birra Social Club.  You can find them on Facebook where they post the current beer selection.  Remember to email or call ahead for reservations.

Comments

  2. Being a beer enthusiast myself, I love Buena Birra, it’s a great place, and the beer is amazing.

    There’s one little thing I disagree (well maybe two):
    1) You can find good craft beer (or microbreweries) in BA if you know where to look. Next time you come down here I suggest you try Breoghan, Gibraltar and Cervelar.

    Also, I think there’s a bar in Palermo called Danilas, which serves beer from Cork, a local microbrew who’s owner is a big fan of American style IPAs. Their latest creations are three IPAs (an American, a Belgian, and one more).

    2) I know in the US you like your beers as hoppy as possible (I liked the Sierra Nevada Torpedo), but traditional IPA was never meant to be THAT hopped. For more information I suggest you check beer writer Martyn Cornell’s blog zythophile.wordpress.com.

    I hope you find this useful for your next trip back here to the world’s arse.

    Bye!

  3. Yay! :) You found some decent beer in Buenos Aires after all. It was looking like Mission Impossible for a while there.

    Buena Birra sounds awesome. A bit of south american chillout music in the background and you’ve got one hell of a place to go to for a beer. Thank you for posting this gem so all of us can know about it.

    I did the currency conversion on http://www.xe.com and in Aussie dollars what you would have paid in Buenos Aires at the Buena Birra is similar to what you’d expect to pay in a bar in Melbourne and maybe Sydney for a pint of tap beer here.

    The beer on tap is VB in Melbourne which I must admit tastes like crap and I never drink unless somebody else shouts me a glass. In Sydney Toohey’s is the drink of choice. Marginally better than VB. Both are massed produced beers and dominate the market. If you’re very lucky you might find a place with Guiness or Stella Artois on tap. I love Stella’s myself. My drink of choice any day the weather is over 100 fahrenheit.

    Here in Australia a couple of months ago they ran a story on the TV news about a competition to find the best handcrafted beer in the country. The footage showed no less than 60 different beers entered into the competition and I believe that the winner came from New South Wales, the state where Sydney resides. They had all sorts of beers you could think of and some that you and I heard of.

    We have plenty of beers and wines here from the mass produced variety right through to handcrafted gems through to all the world reknown imports, we’ve got them all. You’re only problem is that finding time to sample them all if you come over here.

    I would recommend you come in the warmer months. That’s when we tend to go out and drink more. From October/November when we have the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne through to January/February when the weather gets really hot. When I say hot days over 40 degrees celcius or 104 degrees fahrenheit are not unheard of even though we live right down south. It gets even hotter the more inland and north that you go.

    • Dunno where in BA you went (or when you came) but there are pretty good mircrobreweries and even a few brewpubs. You just have to find them.

      My personal recommendations, apart from Buena Birra, are Breoghan Brew Bar, and Gibraltar, in San Telmo, Antares in Palermo and near Buena Birra you can go to Cervelar where they have 8 taps and a wide selection of bottled beers for consumption and to take home.

      • I have been to Antares in Palermo and had one good beers and one bad beer there. I have a friend from the US that went to Breoghan Brew Bar and did not like the beer (going back to perhaps having a different beer style/ taste preference.

        Cervelar is definitely a new one to me, so I’ll see if I can check it out before I leave.

        Thanks for the tips!
        The Travel Chica recently posted..Halloween Photo Fun with Foto-Ruta

      • As for wine tours there are three major wine growing areas in Australia. You’ve got the Yarra Valley which is about an hour’s drive from Melbourne towards the north east. Beautiful country out there. There’s also the Healesville Sanctuary in that direction that you can visit as well. They’ve got all sorts of Australian animals there including Koalas and Kangaroos.

        In South Australia to the west you’ve got the Barossa Valley which is about two hours drive from the main capital city of Adelaide. If you love your wine you have to make the trip there some time. Some of the best wine in Australia comes from this region.

        In New South Wales to the north of Melbourne there is also a famous wine growing region west of the city of Newcastle that is quite popular called the Hunter Valley. You can either drive the three hours north of Sydney or simply catch a plan to Newcastle from Melbourne. It’s only about an hour or so flying time and I’ve checked online and the tickets mid-week start at $50 each way and both Jetstar and Virgin Australia service the route. In my opinion Virgin Australia is the better of the two airlines. The service is better according to my mother who flies a lot on Virgin.

        All three of the destinations that I’ve outlined do day tours by bus. It’s simply a matter of looking online and planning your trips from there.

  5. It seems the blog ate my post or something.

    Well, apart from the bar recommendations I just posted as a reply, I’d like to make one little point about IPAs. I know in the US you like your beers really hoppy, but and English IPA most likely won’t be THAT hopped. For more information about the subject of IPAs and British beer in general, I suggest you check out zythophile.wordpress.com and barclayperkins.blogspot.com.

    • Steve, the alcohol level is up to the brewer’s discretion, but brewers tend to follow certain styles that have their characteristic parameters, so it depends on the style you’re brewing, for example, an English Barley Wine would be around 10% (which is quite high, hence the name “barley wine”) while a German Hefeweizen may be around 4%-5%. There are styles that are stronger than others, but as a rule of thumb, a craft beer alcohol level would be between 4%-5% up to 8%-10% (but there are examples that fall outside this range, called “extreme brewing”).

    • That is a good question. I have no clue. I know the wines in Argentina have outrageous alcohol levels (minimum 14% sometimes up to 16%).

      I’ll have to ask the next time I have a brewmaster in front of me. Luckily, Ariel gave me some info other places to check out when I get to Patagonia, so I do have hopes of trying more good beer.
      The Travel Chica recently posted..Halloween Photo Fun with Foto-Ruta

  15. You should really try Antares, they have brewpubs along the country with 9 different kinds of beer. In Buenos Aires, you coan find them in Las Cañitas and Palermo Soho. Some of the varieties change monthly, anothers weekly; I had an IPA yesterday (it was awesome!!!!).
    Another good brewery is Buller, in Recoleta…but it´s quite expensive. Their IPA is good, too!!

  16. When I read the word “beer,” I could only think of Europe. I knew that there are good beers but I just didn’t know where to find it. It is nice to know that you have found the great beer. And I wish I could be able to taste American Pale Ale someday. Thanks for sharing your experience.
    Stephan Hilson recently posted..Forfait mobile pas cher

  17. It’s weird, I’ve never been a beer girl in the slightest–I blame the Southern upbringing and the fact that I grew up 15 minutes away from both the Jack Daniel and George Dickel distilleries–but living in California these past few years, I feel so wine-d out that I’m opting for beer more and more these days. Or maybe it’s just that until I was out of college, I didn’t know there was quality beer out there beyond Natty Lite, PBR and the other disgusting things college kids drinks =)

  23. We’ve gotten so spoiled with all the great craft brews available in the states. We were really surprised to find tons of top notch brewers in a lot of small markets.

    We’ll be spending 2 months in Central America soon, I hope we’re equally surprised. Fingers crossed.
    Brian recently posted..20 Ways to Save for Travel

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