St. Kitts
Our Posts about St. Kitts
Reggae Beach Bar, St. Kitts/SBPR
So, a guy walks into a bar and sees a goat, a pig and a monkey sitting there… Sounds like the start of a good joke, but this is exactly what you’ll see if you’re ever lucky enough to find yourself at the Reggae Beach Bar in St. Kitts.
My love of beach bars and shacks (Sunshine’s, Le Petibonum, etc.) has been well-documented on Uncommon Caribbean, so I’m sure that none of you faithful readers will be surprised that I forced our cab driver to stop here on our way to the airport during the waning hours of my recent trip to Nevis. The bar sits directly on the beach in Cockleshell Bay, just a few steps from the jetty where the boat that taxied us from St. Kitts to Nevis and back again was docked. Upon first seeing the place on our way to St. Kitts’ smaller sister island, I knew that I would have to find a way to return, if only just for a quick drink. I’m sure glad that I did as this is one of the friendliest and most uncommon beach bars I’ve ever seen.
The Reggae Beach vibe is very laid back and cool, with roots rhythms mixing nicely with seriously strong rum punches and a nice stretch of beach to keep everyone in an irie mood. The food is excellent as well. Reggae Beach has a reputation for offering the best BBQ ribs on the island, though it’s the fresh lobster I saw being served that has my stomach aching for a return visit.
The Beach at Reggae Beach Bar/SBPR
All those things are great, but what makes Reggae Beach particularly uncommon is the cast of animal characters always on-hand at the bar.
Wilbur the pig is a behemoth, weighing in at 700 pounds. Like most pigs, he just lays around in the shade getting fat. In fact, he’s so fat that a bartender told me he can’t open his eyes because his eyelids are too heavy. Still, this is a better life than what was originally planned for him. Sonia, the manager at Reggae Beach, told me that the pig once belonged to a former employee named Daniel who intended to slaughter the poor guy. The bar’s owner had developed an affection for the pig, though, so he bought him and has let him live out his lazy days in the shadow of the bar.
Photo credit: Kelly Bennett
The monkey and the goat are an even better story. Both were brought to the bar when they were very young after being injured and abandoned. Reggae Beach bar staff cared for the animals, raising them together in the same large cage. They’ve been best friends virtually their whole lives, happily growing up together completely oblivious of their differences - a fitting metaphor for a truly friendly place.
For more information on the Reggae Beach Bar, visit their Website by clicking here.
Skol Lager/SBPR
Ask around for the local beer in Nevis and just about everyone will give you the same answer – Carib.
While Carib is, indeed, produced in St. Kitts, we all know that its roots are really in Trinidad. It may taste a bit different (some say stronger) in St. Kitts & Nevis, probably owing to the islands’ very special natural water (more on that next week), but a Carib is still a Trini beer, if you ask me.
As is our wont here at Uncommon Caribbean we were looking for something a bit more unique to the local area during our visit to Nevis last weekend.
Enter Skol Lager, a light and tasty beer I first encountered on the third of my four days in Nevis – yeah, I almost missed it!
Honestly, if you didn’t know to ask, you could easily visit Nevis several times without ever knowing that Skol even exists. There are no banners, placards, billboards, T-shirts or any other forms of marketing for Skol anywhere on the island (not sure if that’s also the case in St. Kitts as we just passed through there on our way to/from Nevis). This is in stark contrast to Carib, which is touted EVERYWHERE.
The roots of the discrepancy lie in the fact that Skol is still a relatively new entrant into the local beer market. According to one of their marketing managers, with whom I spoke via phone earlier today, Skol has been brewed in the twin-island nation for just about 10 years.
Oh, and get this, it’s also not 100% local. Skol is produced in St. Kitts & Nevis by Carib Brewery (St Kitts & Nevis) Limited under a licensing agreement with Skol International. What is Skol International? Here’s some background from Wikipedia:
- Skol is an international beer brand. Allied Breweries of the UK, Labatt of Canada, Pripps-Bryggerierna of Sweden and Unibra of Belgium formed a new company called Skol International in 1964. Its aim was the creation of a world-wide beer brand, Skol lager, which could be licensed, manufactured and marketed across the world.
This means that the Skol in St. Kitts & Nevis is a close cousin to the Skol in Brazil, which is that nation’s most popular beer – imagine how many Skols are soaking Brazilian soccer sorrows tonight!
Will Skol ever gain the same elite status in St. Kitts & Nevis? Who knows.
For me, right now, it’s my preferred choice of local beer in St. Kitts & Nevis. It can be yours too – just be sure to ask for it by name on your next visit or else you may never find it…
Skol!
Steve Bennett
To some, pigs are cute. To others, they’re kinda’ gross. Throughout the Caribbean, though, it seems most everyone agrees on one thing about pigs: they’re just plain tasty.
Throughout our travels, we’ve found pork to be a staple meat used in a wide range of West Indian cooking traditions, be they English, French, Dutch or Spanish. The many dishes featuring “the other white meat” vary about as much as the destinations where they’re served. On this particular Monday, we’re hungry for some souse.
A soupy broth consisting primarily of pickled meat culled from Porky’s more exotic anatomic regions — the head, feet, tail, etc. — souse is often eaten as an appetizer before lunch or dinner, though really it can be enjoyed anytime. It’s also quick and easy to make. Here’s a recipe that we recently came across from St. Kitts.
Ingredients
- 2 onions
- 1 green pepper
- ½ pigs head
- 2 tsp salt
- 2 cucumbers
- 2 trotters
- juice of 4 limes
Directions:
Wash trotters and head thoroughly with lime. Cook in salted water until tender about 1 ¼ hours. Let cool,then cut into pieces. Slice green pepper and cucumber and chop onion. Mix all ingredients with some of the stock. Add pork slices. Leave for a while. Serve with a tossed salad.
Prep time is only about 5-10 minutes, and you can have this all cooked and served-up in under two hours.
Enjoy!
Your Monthly Moment of Zen
| 
| 
