Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Nonalcoholic Drinks
While the Virgin Islands have all the soft drinks and many of the juices found in mainland
USA, they also shake up beverages that are unique to the islands.
Ginger beer is a nonalcoholic beverage that comes from a fermented mix of ginger root,
water and sugar. Maubi (like Puerto Rico's
mauvi
) is the foamy juice made from the fer-
mented bark of the carob tree, with spices and brown sugar. The islands' traditional practice
of 'bush medicine,' descended from Africa, has created bush teas, made from more than
400 of the islands' leaves, roots and herbs. Many of these teas come with names like 'tam-
arind,' 'worry vine,' 'worm grass' and 'Spanish needle.' Each tea cures specific illnesses
like gas, menstrual pain, colds or insomnia.
Many restaurants pour sorrel, a lightly tart, bright-red cold tea that's high in vitamin C
and made from the flowers of the sorrel plant.
Rum & Beer
Rum is the national drink, and it plays a major role in island social life. The historic Call-
wood Rum Distillery on Tortola and the Cruzan Rum and Captain Morgan factories on St
Croix pump out much of the elixir. Rums from neighboring Puerto Rico, the world's largest
producer, also flood the market.
More than 20 brands of rum are available at local bars. Beyond brand-name preferences,
the choice of which rum to drink boils down to three options: white (like the local Cruzan
offering), gold or añejo (aged, often from Puerto Rico). Dark rums are largely the products
of Jamaica and other former British colonies, such as Barbados.
White rums are the lightest. They're distilled and aged for as little as a year and are often
mixed with orange or tomato juice. Gold rums must be distilled and aged for three years,
and this beverage is often an ingredient in the popular piña colada or the 'Painkiller.' The
longest aged, most flavorful and expensive rums are añejo. These amber beverages are of-
ten sipped straight or on the rocks.
Adventuresome drinkers may want to take a risk and imbibe a bit of 'pinch.' These
are homemade, illegal rums that can be either blinding firewater or the smooth, treasured
drinks of connoisseurs.
Islanders drink plenty of beer, too. Carib is the most popular brand; it's brewed in Trinid-
ad and marketed throughout the Eastern Caribbean. For microbrews, Virgin Islands Brew-
ing Company taps Blackbeard's Ale in the USVI and Foxy's Lager in the BVI, while St
John Brewers pours Mango Pale Ale and other citrusy suds throughout the USVI.
