To get a feel for who’s doing what down there, we checked in with Chirag “Cheech” Vyas, co-owner and brewer at St. John Brewers, located a stone’s throw from the park’s entrance. The former NASA scientist partnered with a fellow New Englander, Kevin Chipman, and started homebrewing for lack of good beer variety on the islands. Today their Tropical Mango Pale Ale can be found all over St. John and most likely anywhere you stay, dine or drink. Their large-scale bottling is contracted out to fellow New Englanders Shipyard Brewing but their Tap Room (Mongoose Junction mall in Cruz Bay on St. John, StJohnBrewers.com) serves 16 draft beers as well as freshly made sodas for those who (A) are traveling with kids or (B) want a great mixer for one of those rum drinks. Their ginger ale makes for a killer Dark and Stormy, and here R&R stands for Rum and Root Beer.
St. John Brewers' Tap Room serves up their flagship beer Tropical Mango—a light pale ale with mango essence.
Bars throughout the islands are everywhere, including along the beach, but The Beach Bar (Wharfside Village in Cruz Bay on St. John, beachbarstjohn.com) is another place Vyas recommends for micro and Belgian brews. Of course, if you just want Red Stripe or something else that has been better branded as being tropical, you’ll find those here, too, but in what Vyas calls “a very cool island setting.” I’ll also mention that the Beach Bar food menu is slightly more extensive than at the Tap Room.
The entire island is only nine miles by five, and limited lodging options range from the ritzy Westin Hotel to camping on the beach, which works for me since isn’t that what heading to St. John is all about? More likely is staying on St. Thomas, though, which we’ll get to in a second.
Any trip to the USVI will entail some island hopping. St. Croix is two hours by ferry or by 20 minutes by seaplane, which Vyas recommends not just because it’s quicker but also because “it’s lots of fun to land in the ocean!” While there, stop in at the Fort Christiansted Brewpub (55 A&B King’s Alley in Christiansted; fortchristianbrewpub.com). The operators brew and serve their ales on premise, and Vyas assures that it’s not only popular among tourists but locals, too. As a full-service brewpub, it offers an extensive menu, from steaks to seafood, but the specialties are the Cajun items. Remember, it’s not a taste of New Orleans in the Caribbean; its cuisine originated here in “the West Indies.” So wash down that blackened catfish with the Blackbeard Ale it’s battered in, an English-style pale ale that tilts like a peg-legged pirate toward the malty side. The Jump Up Stout is a good accompaniment to the blackened ribeye.
Forty miles north of St. Croix and far closer to St. John—just a few miles away via a 20-minute ferry ride, departing hourly—is St. Thomas. Vyas compulsorily mentions the Virgin Islands Brewing Co., which, he says, “is technically located on St. Thomas. They have no formal brewery or home operation. Their one brand, Blackbeard Ale, was available years ago but now is only found in select locations now. They were somehow linked to the brewpub on St Croix, but that relationship is difficult to understand. It has changed ownership numerous times.”
