Golden Monkey Rock Ice – Costa Rica’s New Healthy Fruit Beer

Cerveceria Costa Rica new beer, Rock Ice Golden Monkey has been described as too fruity and heavy tasting.

Costa Rica’s national brewery, the Cerveceria Costa Rica,  which is owned by the Florida Ice and Farm Company produces over 39 million gallons of beer a year. That amount does not include the imported beers like Corona and a few US beers. So, wanting to add more zest back in June they announced a new beer, the Golden Monkey Rock Ice.  This is Costa Rica’s first designer special beer for the gourmet beer drinker who likes those micro-brewery exotic flavors. This beer flaunts the flavor of the mangosteen fruit from Indonesia.

Cerveceria Costa Rica is spending a lot of money promoting this beer, complete with hot looking Ticas, cruising in strange custom built cars.

Personally,  we have never heard of this fruit and probably of the reasons why (according to our research) is that it can not be legally imported into the United States … in other words, not available commercially … something about a fear of fruit flies.

This exotic fruit comes from Southeast Asia, where it is popular with the rich and famous, and one of the most expensive fruit in the market. It is a tropical evergreen tree, believed to have originated in the Sunda Islands and the Moluccas of Indonesia. The tree grows from 20–80 feet tall. The rind (exocarp) of the edible fruit is deep reddish purple when ripe. And can be described as sweet and tangy, citrusy with peach flavor and texture.

Now this is what we thought was intriguing, Mangosteen has been described by nutritionists, a Superfruit that is full of nutrients and antioxidant Properties.

…  so is this Costa Rica’s first healthy beer?

Joseph Altmann, Rock Ice Brand Manager of Cervecería Costa Rica, claims, “Golden Monkey appeals precisely due to this combination of factors: it is a special fruit and exotic, it is a different beer, it is a treasure to savor and a primitive instinct to care for.”

Favor is one thing … but ingredients is another.

There are two other Rock Ice beers, regular and limon. These are created through the “ice brewing” system. The after taste is much less than with regular beers. It is geared toward the younger market. It is light and perfect for the beach and has strong lime taste with a mild salty flavor, sorta like an imitation or copycat of the Mexican Corona. However,  the Ice beers do have the highest alcohol content.

How is Costa Rica going to take this new beer?

Personally, we do not see it taking a foothold among the locals as  most have described it as too fruity and heavy tasting, not the beer you want to power down on a hot day –

– but for the chic tourist, the perfect dollar grabber.

All beer in Costa Rica is produced by the Cerveceria of Costa Rica.  They offer a wide selection of excellent beers some of which like Heineken is brewed under an agreement with the parent company and some which are unique to Costa Rica.

OTHER COSTA RICA BEERS
Imperial is the most popular beer in Costa Rica. The logo is a distinctive looking eagle, which many individuals believe is a Russian design. However, it was created by Costa Rican artist and author Carlos Salazar Herrera. This beer is commonly called águilla, meaning the eagle. Lots of souvenirs from Costa Rica feature this symbol on T-shirts and hats.

There are three varieties of Imperial: regular, silver and light. This is very similar to a pilsner like Budweiser in the United States. In 2006, it won a silver medal, at the prestigious Monde Selection awards in Belgium, where it competed against brands from 71 countries.

The Bavarian products are the premium beer produced in Costa Rica. There are also three varieties of it. Gold, a Dortmunder variety is more of a European style beer. The Dark version is quite popular with beer aficionados. It is a dark beer without the heavy bitter taste. It is the most flavorful of the Costa Rican beers, but may be a little heavy for the beach. The light beer is a lager which is low in calories and alcohol content.

Pilsen is the oldest beer brewed in Costa Rica and the second most popular. It is a dry beer with a slightly more bitter taste. It goes well with food.

Bremen is the newest product in the line. This beer was intended for the female market or the occasional beer drinker. It is low in calories and has a mild pleasant taste.

Kaiser offers the only non-alcoholic option in the Costa Rica beer line.

Heineken is brewed by the Florida Ice and Farm Company via an agreement with the parent company. It is really indistinguishable from the original imported version.

Corona is distributed through the Florida Ice and Farm Company.

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