A few good beers (and rental car challenges) in Curaçao

This past May, I was fortunate enough to vacation on the island nation of Curaçao. For those unaware, Curaçao is a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Just east of Aruba and west of Bonaire. It’s a popular Caribbean destination for European tourists.

On this journey, we stayed at a centrally located apartment in the capital, Willemstad. We had a balcony the overlooked the Sint Anna Bay that splits the capital in half. We had great views of the historic Otrobanda quarter, as well as the Punda quarter skyline, featuring colorful Dutch-style buildings that look like they were dropped straight out of Amsterdam, plus we got to view the Queen Emma Bridge which swings open and shut for large vessels.  

Willemstad, Curaçao

Queen Emma Bridge

Curaçao is conveniently about 3.5 hours by plane with direct flights from Charlotte-Douglas International airport most days of the week (but not all days, so plan accordingly).

All tour guides highly recommend renting a vehicle to truly allow you to explore the island, its many beaches and natural attractions. I signed up for a “Toyota RAV 4 - or equivalent.” They set me up with a Jetour Dashing - worst…car…ever!

I take pride in my ability to adjust to most cars without incident. Since my teenage years I’ve driven countless cars - all makes and models - but I’ve never stumbled across one of these.

Worst car ever!

Made in China, these vehicles are not available in the USA. Upon entering the car, I spent what felt like 30 minutes just trying to figure out how to adjust the side view mirrors - I never did, I just left them as they were. Then it was on to figuring out the A/C (it was about 90 degrees in Curaçao in May). Best we could figure out was either OFF or FULL BLAST!!! It took my wife and I about until day 2 to finally figure out how to adjust the fan.

Then the acceleration was atrocious. I’d press the gas pedal and get no reaction. Push a little further, still no reaction. Then just a little further and my wheels were peeling out leaving rubber on the road! WHOA! I never got used to this “feature,” and I was squealing wheelies all over the island for five days. Screetch! Screetch! Screetch!

Add to this, the parking brake automatically engages whenever you put the vehicle into Park. Whether you like it or not - or know it or not - the parking brake is engaged!

And then, best feature of all was the shift knob. The car was an automatic transmission with the gear shift in the middle console - as it is on most cars. Except, with this vehicle, just the slightest touch popped the car from Drive to Neutral. The first time it happened I was at a red light that just turned green. I slowly hit the already unresponsive gas pedal only to hear the engine rev up and go nowhere this time. What the heck??

I was in Neutral - how did that happen?

Later, while driving down a straight away, I reached down to grab my phone in the middle console and was unaware my knuckle must have brushed against the gear shift promptly popping me into Neutral yet again - still took me a couple of seconds to figure out what was going on as the car decelerated quickly.

The drive from the airport to the apartment we were staying was roughly 20 minutes, but after 20 minutes driving that car, I felt like I already needed a beer! Did I mention I also drove this ridiculous car over the incredibly high Queen Juliana Bridge with my irrational fear of heights?

As with any journey to the Caribbean, I was concerned about the craft beer options, as most Caribbean islands lack a diversity of brews. However, Curaçao, did not disappoint.‍

Similar to their neighbors in Aruba, the people of Curaçao are close to their European roots and both Dutch and Belgian beers can be found throughout the island - sometimes, in delightful locations.‍

It became clear, early on, that perhaps the most popular local craft brewery on the island was Montana Beer, as options from this bierhuis were available most places.

As a West Coast IPA fan, I was happy to find their IPA, named Otrobanda, was a nice, hoppy brew at 6% ABV and it became my go-to beer when I wasn’t trying all the other offerings on the island.   

Otrobanda West Coast IPA brewed by Montana Brewery

The Montana Blonde Ale, which clocked in at 4.6%, was a refreshingly good low ABV beer.

Montana Blonde Ale

After a visit to a local market, I brought back a few local and international beers to try while overlooking the local harbor.

Martens Gold was an American-style lager that I’d never seen in America before, brewed in Belgium by Brouwerij Martens in Bocholt. Definitely light and slightly sweet. At 4.6% it was a crisp brew, ideal for days at the beach or for looking out into the harbor at night.

Martens Gold

This was followed by Orangeboom, a 5% ABV premium pilsner, brewed by United Dutch Breweries out of Netherlands along with Dors Pilsener, brewed by Swinkels Family Brewers in the Netherlands. Each served as light crushable beach beers that did not disappoint.

Orangeboom

‍When we made it to Mambo Beach for a day, the target audience was tourists and the options were slim - but all brews were designed for the beach.

Polar Beer was introduced to me by one of the servers as, “sort of a local beer.” I’m assuming he called it that because it can be found everywhere on the island, even though it is brewed in Florida. Most places served it in tiny 7oz bottles - so we ordered them by the BUCKET!

Polar Beer

Despite its touristy appeal, it was a refreshing brew for the hot weather.

‍Polar was often paired up in the bucket with Brasa - a respectable Corona wanna-be - served, with lime.

Brasa Caribbean Beer - drink ice cold!

‍What surprised me most, was when we visited the Jan Thiel Beach. Here they serve three Belgian brews from Ter Dolen - a Belgian Blonde, a Belgian Kriek and a Belgian Donker. In all my travels, I had yet to cross paths with this brewery and I was not disappointed. Plus, I got to drink a Belgian Blonde ale, in the proper glassware, while on the beach! Unprecedented!

Der Tolen Belgian Blonda Ale (served on the beach)

At last, we finally got to visit the Swinging Old Lady Brewery! We could see it across the harbor from our balcony, so it was on our itinerary from the beginning. In our travels across the island, we never saw any of their brews available in local restaurants or in package at the stores. Perhaps their beers are only available in the taproom - it’s worth the visit and they are centrally located.

Swinging Old Lady Beer List (May 2026)

They offered a nice variety of styles from IPAs to Wits and Tripels, plus the taproom was almost completely outdoors on a multi-tiered deck that overlooks the water.

View from the Swinging Old Lady Brewery

While I cannot resist a good Black IPA, I especially cannot resist trying a Rye Black IPA. I was surprised to see this little brewery going out on a limb with their Boogie Woogie Black Rye IPA at 6.7%. Extremely well balanced, hoppy and dark. Black IPAs are a style that often miss, this one did not. A Black Rye IPA is even more difficult to nail down and this was probably my favorite brew on the entire trip!

Not much left of my Boogie Woogie Black Rye IPA at Swinging Old Lady Brewery

Their West Coast Swing was also respectable and was reminiscent of a Founders Centennial IPA.

West Coast Swing

‍Across Curaçao it was hard to not find a respectable beer. And most places also offered some additional offerings from Belgium in the bottle.‍

And while in Curaçao, yes you can wade into the water with the sea turtles for no charge…

Wade into the water with sea turtles at Playo Piskado Beach (sorry, I couldn’t get a good picture - but that is the back of a sea turtle, I promise!) - and there were dozens of them!

Just beware of the poisonous Manchineel trees on the way in!

Manchineel Tree Warning Sign

And don’t fall into the Watamula Hole at the north end of the island - there are no guardrails, so approach at your own risk! Flip flops discouraged!

Watamula Hole

Cheers,

Rob Jacik (President & Owner, Carolina Beer Temple)