Home Brewing In Belize

Good Morning, I. Wish you luck, because  I am very interested. The only way I know is third party from the US, and that is maybe.

May be you can find at the Mennonites Village Spanish Lock Out in Cayo near San Ignacio

Not here. You gotta import. Maybe i should open a homebrew shop?

Why not? If you have the connection, be more than happy to patronize you biz. IPA fan😱

Well, we've been looking for investors to start a little microbrew, so maybe we could do this too. If we're importing anyway, we may as well.

For investing.  It is important to understand a little about it.  Where are you?  How you would like to do?
Have you checked the laws regarding a brewery?  How have you checked that you cannot find your ingredients?
Cheers
France Launia

And that folks is how it's done in Belize. With time and patience and by keeping your eyes and ears open, opportunities for a niche business will present themselves.

We are just a bit south of Placencia. We have done tons of research on suppliers and laws and have an extensive business plan. We are looking to start small and just sell in southern Belize.

I was doing fifteen gallons a month in the states. What did you have in mind? Maybe a co-op?

That's an interesting thought.

We had some potential investment interest, so we decided to write the business plan going relatively big. With what we have to pay in customs to import everything in addition to the excise tax placed on beer brewing here, you have to hit a decent size before you can make money. Our plan is to start at 21 barrels a month (that's roughly 651 gallons) with a 7 barrel system.

That said, we are open to a number of possibilities.

I wish you well. From a beer drinkers standpoint you have about 0 competition. I was just looking to make my own brews again. Love the IPA's.

No competitors per say, but: The country brewing company might not like the idea, having may be the monopole.

Well, maybe we'll do a little homebrew shop too.

We anticipate a little static from Belikin, but there's already one micro brew in San Pedro.

Honestly, it can't be a bigger deal than Smart going up against btl 😂

Let us now when you are up and running.

Double hop it! Have a small place in PG also, would like to stop in when you get going. Home brew store? Great. Does Belikin even use hops?

does anyone know why the microbrew is san pedro closed?  at first blush import duties and transportation might be 2 higher then usual costs.

Rumor has it they ran Pepsi out by destroying their bottles.

Huh?

May be not such a good idea, if you want to open a business, to critic what happens locally

Interesting story as to Pepsi in Belize. They used to be rivals as elsewhere the local Coke maker tried several times to get something done as they were competing with an imported product. Then Just before Christmas 1993 there was a really bad traffic accident on the Western Highway. They were doing road work just by Ceasers place (now Orange) and a diversion off the road was in place. the diversion entailed driving down a steep hill 100 yards or so another 100 yards flat then up the hill at the other side back onto the road. all traffic going both ways had to use this gully diversion.
A group of American missionaries were in Belize distributing gifts and doing good deeds, they were traveling towards Cayo in a pick up truck with about 10 people in the back a couple sitting on tail gate. As they reached the diversion coming the other way was a large full Soda truck. We got the emergency call out while at a christmas party at the British embassy in Belmopan, ( my son makes a great Santa which he was doing that day) My husband was 2nd in command at the military hospital so he was who they called. He set things moving and put the hospital on alert for the victims. Very quickly the Puma's were mobiised and flew  the injured people to the military hospital. The Party  which Included many hospital staff driving from Belmopan arriving almost the same time as the Pumas. The injured were  treated at the hospital several staying over night. All that were ok and the injured who could travel found  seats the next day on the american airways flight, only 2 flights per day then one continental and one american.
  It was a big news story in Belize and the USA but along the way the soda truck was described  repeatedly as a Coca cola truck when in fact it was a Pepsi truck, as a result Coca Cola parent company threatened to sue Belize for the bad publicity and the result was that within a year Pepsi was gone from Belize.

I see

Was thinking i'd use animal feed barley and malt it myself....makes ok beer but difficult to get consistency due to maintaining moisture content/colour.

FYI Using a 100L Boil Kettle at the moment making Saisons, stouts and blondes.

Having lived in Aberdeen, the weather of Belize and of South Mexico is slightly different as you know. So all we do needs, wherever we are in the world, to be reajusted even baking bread.  Your receipie, how could it work in hot and humid climate?
Cheers
France Launia
My water front home in Chetumal, near the border of Belize is for sale
http://schwobrealestate.simpl.com/index.html

I've been trying to find out for a while. Import duties are high. And there's also an excise tax on beer production.

Do not forget your taxes in usa if you open a corp the form 5471 is invetivitable and the yearly FBAR

I'm interested to hear how your feed barley comes out. Might be fun to play with.

And yes, the heat and humidity does funny things to beer, but most of them are yummy.

So! Everyone who's interested in homebrew, please pm me what you might be into and if you also need equipment or just ingredients.

Want to share your info on suppliers...i would be very grateful.


Cheers

Shaun

Sending you a message now.

Out of curiosity, how is the water to brew beer?

Well, I suppose it depends on where you are. The water here in Monkey River is wonderful.

We live in Monkey River Town, and our kids used to call it Monkey Town, so that's where it came from. We haven't made an amber, but we got some supplies for some people who brewed a red ipa, and we have some other friends who want to do a red in the near future. Once we get the brewery going, I'm sure we'll do some kind of amber, but we're a ways out from that.

Hey, so I know this is really old, but I’d love to get pointed in the right direction for malts. I already have yeast and hops. Also curious as to whether you pursued your brewing or home brew venture. Either way, best wishes and thanks for any help you can provide. I’m in Caye Caulker, btw. Thanks

So, this never materialized, We had considered purchasing the brewery in San Pedro to simplify things, but the price was prohibitive. However, the real issue was that the attorney who had previously gotten the brewery approved in San Pedro, was not willing to do it again. A lot of red tape, etc. to get an independent brewery approved through the GOB.  I am not sure that Monkey Town Brew is still in Belize. I have not heard from her in a couple of years. It is not really legal to brew your own beer in Belize, though people do it.
We had considered malting our own barley using animal feed barley, but alas, never got that far.

Aw, man, shoot. Too bad. Yeah, Belize red tape is the thickest, most unrelenting, brick wall-ish barrier--until you know the right person, and then it's a walk in the park lol. Thanks for the follow-up, though. Def appreciate it. 👍🏽

Greetings from AZ!

How’s living on Key Caulker?
We spent about 5 days there a few years ago…are there a few other expats there?

Cheers,

David

Honestly, it's amazing lol. I don't talk about it too much because I don't want too many people to move here and have it end up like San Pedro, but Caye Caulker is incredible. There are a bunch of other expats, yeah. But we might love it so much because we love island life, and the smallness of the island and knowing everyone doesn't bother us at all. But some folks may feel closed in when surrounded by water. But we're sold. We just went back to the States to have our first baby, and got back here as fast as we could—if that tells you anything. But, yeah, you should come back and visit again.

Just wanted to circle back real quick. So there's definitely no place to get malt in Belize—at least that anyone knows of? And I'm going to read up on the laws. We def don't wanna disrespect the rules. Thanks for the info, btw.

Just left Belize yesterday. There is a new brewery in Orange Walk- Pirate beer, pretty good, don't know if it is Belikin-related. Also heard there is a new small brewery in Placencia. Haven't been to either one. The rules might be changing, which would be awesome. I know the brewery in Orange Walk is using rice. If you are really serious about brewing, PM me and I can put you in contact with someone who might be willing to grow barley or another grain for malt, depending on quantity. Of course, corn is readily available, as well as sugar cane.