Talk to any expat long enough and they will likely whine about the things they miss most from home. These range from the mundane, such as a freakin’ pillow that actually works, to, well, the slightly less mundane such as…a stove…that actually works. But nine times out of ten, the thing they miss most will be some type of food or drink. From the San Francisco foodie who misses those great organic vegetables and greens, to the not-so-foodie who misses Velveeta and Starbucks, it is the food we pine for.

So it was when we lived in Mendoza, Argentina, the land of plenty-of-wine, that I found myself missing that other divine beverage, beer. Aside from one distant microbrewery, Cerveza Jerome, there was no good beer. In general, that is the case in most of Latin America. So imagine my delight, and many nights of inebriation, upon moving to Valdivia, Chile, home to Chile’s burgeoning artisanal microbrew movement. Valdivia was host to a wave of German immigrants who brought with them the knowledge and appreciation of that highest of crafts: Beermaking.  Today there is a beer renaissance happening in Chile, and Valdivia is ground zero. Below is the first of what I hope to be many reviews on good substitutes for some of those things from home I have missed.

Four of my Favorite Chilean Beers

• Szot – Pale Ale
  Overall, Szot gets my award for the best all around brewery in Chile.  None of their beers are stinkers, and while none are my absolute favorite, they are all up there.  The Pale Ale is a golden amber color, and has nice citrus fruit and spice aromatics.  A good, complex beer with medium mouthfeel, a distinctive front and back end with a surge of orange peel just before a cleaner sweet malt finish.  When poured it had a nice head, but it quickly disappeared.  Szot is located in Santiago, the only brewery reviewed here not from the local area.

• Kunstmann – Gran Torobayo
  The fact that I can hardly read my notes on the Gran Torobayo shows how excited I was by it.  One of the few complaints I have about the beers here in general is the homogeneity of the hops.  The hop revolution has yet to hit Chile.  Immediately I noticed how different the Kunstmann hops were.  My excitement somewhat faded after reading that the hops were imported from southern Germany.  This amber beauty had an excellent balance of malt and hops, great citrus, and carmalized onion.

•  Salzburg – Doppelbock
  Not sure what constitutes doppelbock, as this beer was basically a porter.  Very dark beer with dark toasted malt and acorn aromas.  Creamy upfront, with a dominant dark roast barely flavor, and a toasted chestnut finish.  Medium body, not too syrupy.

• Petermann – Pozo de Oro (blonde ale)
  Saved the best for last.  This beer just blew me away from the first sip.  Very floral aroma, with wild blossoms, spice and dried apricots/membrillo.  The mouthful was a little fuller than a typical blonde ale, a bit more like a pilsner but still had higher CO2.  Waves of creamy, salty sweet malt, apricot, with clean hops and hints of ginger on the finish.  Jen, my wife and a certified sommelier summed it up quite nicely.  “The balance!  The layers!  The finish!”