Medellín has been named the third best city in the world for food in TimeOut Magazine’s global ranking for 2025.

The list of 20 cities was based on a survey of locals as well as expert opinions. Medellín came behind Bangkok, at number two, and New Orleans in first place. 

The recognition has been well received by local restaurateurs who believe it will boost the city’s global reputation.  

To compile its ranking, TimeOut magazine surveyed thousands of people, asking them to respond to eighteen criteria about the food in their hometowns, including affordability and quality.

On top of the survey results, TimeOut food experts were asked to score the cities based on what they believe to be the most exciting cities for food in the world right now. 

The article described Medellín as a city with good food “at any price point.” It mentioned traditional food markets like La Placita de Flórez and more upscale spots in the smart El Poblado neighborhood like Mar y Fuego.

The Bogotá Post spoke to Sergio Echeverry, Creative Chef and co-founder of Mar y Fuego, a restaurant which was praised for its ceviches and Colombian fusion cuisine.

He believes Medellín’s food is unique due to its blend of tradition and global influences, making it both “diverse and modern.”

But according to Echeverry, it also has another element that makes it unique: the service.

“Medellín is a city characterized by the warmth of its people, which is reflected in the service and ambience in restaurants, creating unique experiences,” said the chef.

Echeverry explained that Medellín’s culinary scene has changed considerably in recent years.

“In the last five years, Medellín has undergone an important transformation in gastronomic terms. The city has experienced big growth in the variety and quality of the food available,” said the chef.

He credited this evolution to the surge of young chefs experimenting with indigenous ingredients and developing original menus.

Echeverry also noted that Medellín’s food scene has contributed to its popularity among visitors from abroad.

“The city has also attracted many foreign gastronomic tourists who want to have an authentic experience in a modern and vibrant atmosphere,” said the chef. 

Colombia as a whole has been increasingly recognized for its culinary scene in recent years. 

In the most recent ‘50 Best’ list of Latin American restaurants, two of the top ten were in Colombia – El Chato, at number three, and Leo, at number ten. 

But notably, of the four restaurants on the list, all of them were in Bogotá, which did not make TimeOut’s ranking.

The magazine says that it only includes “the highest-scoring city for each country to ensure the list reflects culinary cities globally.”

For restauranteurs in Medellín, inclusion in the list is already having an impact. 

“Since the article was published, we have noted an interest in finding out more about our restaurant,” said Echeverry.

He also believes the ranking will further boost Medellín’s culinary scene.

“These types of mentions help to position Medellín as a global gastronomic destination, which also opens doors for more people from around the world to discover what the city has to offer,” said the chef.

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You might wonder how there’s a vegan scene here at all, with traditional Colombian dishes often being rather meat-heavy. However, that’s also true of many countries that are now embracing new diets, whether that’s full vegan, pescatarian or simply cutting back on meat. If you’re thinking about doing the same, Vegan Burger Fest 2024 will give you food for thought and belly.

So what is a vegan burger, you may ask? Well, it depends on where you go. Some places will simply make a patty from lentils, chickpeas, or beans, ground down and shaped just as you would with minced meat. Other restaurants may substitute whole mushrooms in place of a patty. Finally, some use fake meat such as seitán, usually formed from soya, wheat, or other grains.

It’s the seventh edition of the festival, but merely the first of a number of similar annual events, with pizza and empanadas having their own dedicated Vegan Fests later in the year. While Bogotá isn’t the world’s premier vegan destination, there’s a quietly impressive scene here when you know what to look for. Open up the HappyCow app on your phone and take a look at what’s on offer.

Vegan restaurants tend to cluster around the areas one would expect, with a heavy cluster between Calle 72 and 60, quinta to 13 or so. There are also a lot around Parkway in Teusaquillo and the Candelaria. Usaquén centre stands out for having particularly few options, although there are some around the autopista.

Last year, the event began to work only with fully vegan or plant-based restaurants and that is continuing for Vegan Burger Fest 2024, meaning that there’s no risk of contamination. Unsurprisingly, almost all venues are pet-friendly, so feel free to bring furry (or scaly) friends with you.

The Bogotano vegan scene is also unpretentious, so the burgers are at COP$16k. If you want fries or a drink, each of them costs COP$3k. That means a full combo is clocking in at a mere COP$22k, which is extremely competitive. Not everywhere offers combos, but the burger price is fixed. 

Where to visit in Vegan Burger Fest 2024?

De/Raíz and Mimanchi share a location on Calle 65 just up from Séptima (Cll 65 # and are reliably tasty. Down Séptima a few blocks, vegan pioneers Cocinita Verde (Cra 7a #64-24)  have a Neoyorquina burger featuring seitán facon. Nearby, Veggie Beans (Calle 64 #7-71) boast a beer-bap and tempura mushrooms in one and fishless BBQ in the other. A little further down, Pianta (Cll 57#5-17) have a fake chicken burger.

Nuve Nutrición Verde (Carrera 45a #123-15) are doing their popular Jack Daniels burger, featuring a whisky sauce. Elsewhere in Usaquén is Dalia Mexican (Cra 12b #140-21) with a Chula double-burger featuring BBQ seitán and crunchy aubergine. Cardamom (Cl 137 #57-28) has a classic lentil burger. Chapiyork (Cra10A #69-35) have an orellana mushroom offering.

Down in Teusaquillo, there’s hidden restaurant Persea (Cra 19 #30-07) which has shiitake mushies and Caja de Pan (Cra 20 #42a-39) has a fake rib burger. Tribu de Fuego (Cl 45 #14-54), better known for pizzas, have a black bap filled with tofu and there’s Philidelphia cheese style tofu at Cero Pollito (Cra 13 #40c-29), famed for their chicken substitutes.

And of course, there are plenty more options if none of those take your fancy. Let us know which ones are your favourites and keep an eye on our social media. We’ll be uploading as we visit different places throughout the week and we love to hear recommendations.

Vegan Burger Fest 2024, February 9-18, various locations around Bogotá (map). Burgers at COP$16k, fries an extra COP$3k, drink also COP$3k.

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Five years after a peace deal in which they left their jungle camps and laid down their weapons, female former guerrilla combatants and women activists have set up shop in Popayán’s hip Barrio Caldas neighborhood, inviting residents to sample their selection of delicious craft beer and engage in an honest and open discussion about reconciliation.

“Women have always been involved in the peace process,” said Erika Calderón, the legal representative of the women’s association Asociación de Mujeres por la Paz con Justicia Social Las Manuelitas (Las Manuelitas, for short). “We wanted to open up this space as a place for people to talk, share, and reconcile the past.”

Opening the path to reconciliation

Las Manuelitas was formed in 2017 in the Pacific department of Cauca, by women who wanted to help further the historic peace process between the Colombian government and the left-wing guerilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). They felt that the government wasn’t doing enough to help ex-FARC women integrate into society, nor foster an atmosphere of reconciliation.

More than 60% of people in Cauca live in rural zones; the region also sees nearly double the Colombian national poverty index at 62%, meaning more than half the residents of Cauca live in poverty. In many regions where the FARC used to operate, land used for coca cultivation saw a 298% increase between 2012 and 2018, due to the fact that earnings from coca can easily outstrip earnings from legal crops like sugarcane or coffee. Due to this, many ex-FARC combatants seeking work can be faced with a tough choice, as they lack the skills needed to find jobs in the region’s main urban areas.

Groups like Las Manuelitas have stepped in to offer ex-FARC members the opportunity to earn a living, which helps prevent them from taking up arms again.

“People in Cauca feel like this government has shown little interest in advancing the deal,” Calderón said.

According to Calderón, many people in Popayán say the government has not fulfilled its commitments to the peace process, leaving the peace and reconciliation up to ex-FARC rebels and members of the community.

Thus, Popayán’s hip new beer bar La Trocha Sentires de la Montaña (La Trocha for short, roughly translated as “the trail”) was born. La Trocha aims to support the community and ex-FARC women combatants where government promises failed. La Trocha’s support network helps ex-FARC women look for jobs and learn entrepreneurial skills. The space is also offered up as a marketplace where ex-FARC combatants can sell artisanal goods and network. 

It also hosts workshops where women can discuss political issues, support groups for victims of domestic violence, classes that teach organizational skills to female entrepreneurs, and a program called “community care and wellness” which prioritizes kids and childcare. 

“To ‘open la trocha’ is to use a machete to create a new road to get to a new place in the jungle,” said Calderón. “In this case, we are opening a road to peace primarily led by women.”

Although Calderón is not an ex-combatant herself, she is heavily involved in local political activism and has been participating in the peace process for years. As FARC combatants moved out of the jungle and into reincorporation zones scattered throughout Colombia, Calderón gave workshops to help them incorporate into regular Colombian life. But as the temporary camps became permanent, security problems arose. 

“Over time these places became dangerous … A lot of people from the countryside had to come to the city, and they couldn’t adapt,” Calderón said. “One of the women I knew from one of these camps whose nom de guerre was ‘Julie’ was killed the day before the inauguration of this place. That’s why this project is so important.”
The opening of La Trocha’s Popayán location on October 15, 2021 is the ambitious project’s second opening in less than a year. Donations from the Swiss Embassy, amongst others, help provide additional funds to the program.

Aims of La Trocha

• Sell ‘products of peace’ made by ex-FARC combatants, or products meant to empower women while furthering the peace process.
  
• Provide an option for women to have financial autonomy, by hosting classes and seminars. 
• Build a community free of gendered violence.
  
• Create an environment of reconciliation for ex-FARC members and the community to educate, reflect and understand.

Tour of La Trocha

The Bogotá Post went to La Trocha for the grand tour and to sample some craft beer. La Trocha itself is divided into three main spaces meant to emulate various aspects of life in a guerrilla camp in Colombia’s mountainous jungles, and showcases important symbology that resonates with ex-FARC combatants.

All the women who work in La Trocha dress in a uniform that can only be described as Latin American communist chic – aprons that look like military-style, six-brass-button waistcoats, Che Guevara berets (red or black), patterned floral shirts reminiscent of hipster camouflage, and all-terrain style jungle fanny packs manufactured and sold by ex-FARC militants in La Trocha’s shop under the brand La Montaña. 

Beer, cocktails, non-alcoholic beverages and coffee are accompanied by meals and snacks (the papas fritas with peanut and pineapple ají were great).

“We also sell peace products – bags and backpacks, handmade dolls, artisanal jewelry, dresses, t-shirts, kimonos, honey, bags of coffee to take home, and herbal tea,” Calderón told us during the tour.

The ground floor offers patrons a traditional bar and coffee shop experience, with artistic renderings of totemic items drawn in thin white paint on the maroon walls and illuminated by lights stylized to look like lanterns.

The first of these totems is a painting of a frailejón, a high-altitude perennial whose soft leaves can be used to insulate clothes. The second icon on the wall is a gasoline lantern of the kind you would use to guide your way along a dark “trocha.” A third depicts a machete in its sheath – the most common tool in the countryside and highly useful when you’re encamped in the jungle. The final rendering is of the “churuco” monkey, which was an important animal to FARC guerrillas because they would imitate its call by kissing the palms of their hands, to signal to each other clandestinely, Calderón said. 

The furniture throughout La Trocha is made of sanded, unfinished wood, evoking a forested environment. The stereo plays a mix of South American punk rock, chirimía (an Andean woodwind and drum-based genre of music frequently played in southwest Colombia during political protests) and of course salsa typical to the Pacific region.

“We are trying to represent the invisible role of women within the armed group during the years of conflict. We want to create a timeline that shows the various roles women played in FARC, and how they are now involved in the peace process today. Our goal is to humanize these women,” Calderón said.

The photographic journey begins in black in white in 1964, and shows a row of Colombian women in berets and sunglasses shouldering assault rifles in a jungle clearing. A few frames later, women are depicted in different roles within the organization – as military leaders, nurses, and radio operators.

Exiting the photo gallery, the atmosphere shifts to that of a remote workspace filled with people working on laptops. This is Salón Azul.

“Downstairs you feel comfortable, like you’re in a coffee house, but the idea when you go upstairs is to make you feel like you’re in the jungle,” Calderón smiled.

Rendered in shades of blue, white, and metallic gold paint is a guerilla camp deep in the jungle, surrounded by flora commonly spied in the Cauca countryside, including opium poppy (useful for pain relief), helecho (a giant fern that was used by the FARC to make bedding), and anturio (a plant found everywhere in Andean rainforests), according to Calderón. 

Machetes, lanterns and cooking pots hang from leather straps on moss-festooned tree trunks in this nighttime scene. The metallic gold paint adds warmth to the light emanating from the slits of the unseen guerrillas’ tent flaps. The light fixtures in Salón Azul are delicate brass flowers with elongated oval bulbs.

Connected to Salón Azul is a meeting space called ‘Caleta.’ On the walls is a mural of abstracted animal shapes juxtaposed with military equipment. A yellow bird silhouette and a deconstructed monkey flank a toucan and helicopter bathed in the dapple light from large wicker baskets lampshades. 

When I visited, a group of four women sat with their laptops chatting and snacking on empanaditas de pipián (a kind of bite-sized, crispy, fried potato dumpling endemic to Popayán and typically served with spicy peanut and pineapple sauces). 

“In FARC camps, the term caleta was a place meant for sleeping, and it also means the woven mats made from helecho that combatants would sleep on. Today, we wanted to resignify the term caleta to mean a place where we can exercise our historical memory – like a museum, a place to reconcile,” Calderón explained.

Another room, filled with children’s toys, is meant to function as a nursery for ex-FARC women who want to utilize La Trocha’s many free resources.

“We’re trying to get support for another program aimed at helping older women,” Calderón added, closing out the tour by gently encouraging me to go back downstairs and order some beer already.

La Trocha Beer Review:

Of the six beers sold at La Trocha, The Bogotá Post sampled them all. Here are three that stood out.

La Trocha “Churuka” by Tomahawk Brewery — Named after the monkey discussed above, this one is a ‘dorado’ style lager beer made with maracuya, giving the brew a bit of bite and an intense floral bouquet. It’s not as sweet as a Belgian fruit beer but is instead very nice, very mellow, and refreshing. It is manufactured by Tomahawk Brewery in Bogotá for La Trocha. 

La Vandela  – “La Cerveza Artesanal del Paro Nacional” (Artisanal Beer of the Colombian National Strike) by Cafe Pushkin — Described as a campesino (peasant farmer) Amber Ale that uses pure water from the Páramo de Chingaza in the Colombian Andes. It contains the highest ABV of any of La Trocha’s offerings (a hefty 6%) and comes packed with loads of malty caramel flavor. 

La Roja — Handmade beer produced by people in the reincorporation process who are developing productive projects (we wrote more about this beer here). This is the only beer manufactured in a reincorporation zone by ex-combatants: ETCR (the new name for ZTVN:  Territorial Training and Reincorporation Areas) Icononzo Tolima. The brewery seeks to include local ingredients, like panela and rice.

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It’s not quite October and — even if the grey skies of Bogotá may feel like Europe — we’re not in Germany. But that hasn’t stopped the BBC from donning their lederhosen and sharpening their pretzels to celebrate Oktoberfest.

Last week, it launched a seasonal Cerveza Blanca, a German-style wheat beer, which is on sale at BBCs throughout the country. Not only do they promise free beer samples at certain times of the day, there’s also a seasonal German menu which, unsurprisingly, features sausages. 

Wheat beers can be a bit of an acquired taste, but they tend to be cloudier (and often fizzier) than lagers. They taste a bit like breathing in bread dough, if that’s a thing.

Bavaria’s global brand director Diego Pomareda said: “With the celebration of BBC Oktoberfest, we want consumers to find different BBC pubs and have experiences that take them to the true German tradition and transport them to the old continent.”

Oktoberfest originated back in 1810 when a royal wedding was celebrated with a horse race. Weddings and races gave way to drinking, as they do. So in the following years, Oktoberfest became an annual festival.

Over 200 years later, here we are drinking wheat beer and eating sausages in Colombia. 

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When I arrived in Colombia in 2014, there really wasn’t much in the way of craft beer here. There were a couple breweries in their infancy (some of which we’ve covered here), but unless you knew how to find them, there was basically just BBC (while it was still craft beer). 

Barranquilla-born Jean Taboada experienced this same anguish upon returning to Colombia after three years in the US. With not much to do in the country, he took up his wife’s suggestion to start his own brewery. Thanks to Jean’s wife, we can all now drink 13 Pesos. There’s a close involvement with the food and drink industry woven all throughout Jean’s family history. He comes from a family of chefs (especially on his mother’s side), and it was his sister who bought him his first homebrew kit for Christmas in 2011. The family beer legacy goes back far further than that though.

Back in the 1910s, Jean’s paternal great-grandfather, Gabriel Antonio Taboada, owned a small rural bank in Corozal, Sucre. One day the quiet town received a strange new visitor – a German, fleeing from the First World War. This mysterious new arrival fancied setting up a brewery and looked for investment from local business owners. Mr Taboada decided to invest a grand sum of 13 pesos. After a period of seeing little bang for their buck and nothing in the way of dividends, the costeño investors grew restless and asked for their money back. The German paid them all out, but managed to keep the brewery open. That brewery is now one of the biggest breweries in Latin America. Gabriel Taboada got his 13 pesos back though.

Read our guide to craft beer in Bogotá as we keep adding to it

Jean’s fortunately had much more success in the beer business than his ancestor. While it hasn’t ever been exactly easy for him, 13 Pesos has pretty much always been on an upward trajectory. Eight months after founding it, Jean was able to set up a bar on Calle 82. While most businesses shut up shop because they’re struggling, Jean found himself closing the bar because he was too flat out making and selling beer to bother with a tasting room. 13 Pesos now has a good-sized brewery up in Zipaquirá, where Jean prefers the water, not to mention the price of rent. Right now they’re making around 3,000L of beer a month. Speaking of which, let’s get to the beers…

The beers

13 Pesos currently does an IPA, a blonde ale, a stout and, somewhat uncommonly for Colombian craft breweries, a lager. They used to have a wheat beer too, but that’s now been phased out. Right now they also offer two seasonal imperial stouts. I’m going to focus on the IPA here though, as it’s one of the beers I make sure I’m never ever out of at home, and it could also be the best value craft beer in Colombia.

The 13 Pesos IPA is quite a sweet IPA – very low on bitterness for the style, even though the IBUs would suggest otherwise. It’s certainly nothing like a West Coast IPA. Jean’s been working on the recipe for 2-3 years now, and the evolution of the beer is worthy of discussion. For most brewers when they start out and get stuck into making IPAs, there’s nothing more exciting than trying to feature as many exotic and citrusy hops as possible. Jean was no exception and his IPA originally had five types of hops in it, to go with four different barley varieties. He’s now arrived at a ‘two hop, two malt’ philosophy, and it seems to have paid off immensely. The Cascade and Centennial hops perfectly complement a much lighter malt bill, and their pine and citrus notes come through beautifully strong. It’s still fairly malty despite the lighter malt bill, which also contributes to the sweetness. As Jean says, ‘the beauty of it is down to the simplicity.’

How to get ‘em:

13 Pesos sell their beers in six packs ($38,000 COP) and cases of 24 ($125,000). Delivery’s an additional $7,200 and Jean can usually get them to you within 24 hours. You can pay online, via bank transfer or with Rappi Pay. Message Jean on WhatsApp (316 621 2438) to order. You can find more details about the beers and the brewery on their website.

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They may not be as well-known and established as some of the other craft breweries we’ve covered so far, but Vistalegre, in the far north of Bogotá, is one of the best examples here of the grass roots aspect of the industry. If you’re after a brewer who’s had to start with the very basics and make do with what he has at hand, Daniel López is your man.

Daniel’s brewing story is a family one and goes all the way back to his father, Miguel, and his grandfather, Gonzaga, who had a rum distillery in the small Venezuelan town of Caicara del Orinoco. After having grown up with rum barrels and alcohol all around him, Miguel came up with the idea of continuing the family tradition of grog supply and trying a bit of homebrewing when Daniel was about 13. Miguel was working for the World Health Organisation at the time and had stumbled upon a couple of homebrewing books during his travels, so in the early 90s, he and Daniel started brewing in Caracas. 

The Venezuelan capital at the time wasn’t exactly brimming with homebrew supplies though, so even when Daniel was able to pop over to the States to bring back supplies, it was still nigh on impossible to get hold of any other ingredients back home. In the early 00s, Daniel’s friend in Ireland managed to find a homebrewing shop over there, from which he was able to get hold of some Cascade hops and yeast. By this point it was finally possible to find malted barley in Venezuela and Daniel was able to get started on his dream. 

Daniel’s quick to admit that the first few batches were nothing special, but as he researched the art more and small homebrew supply importers began popping up in Caracas, he improved his craft and started selling beers to his friends. He soon found himself making more money selling beer than he was pulling in at his university job, and founded Old Dan’s in 2011.

As the situation in Venezuela continued to deteriorate, Daniel finally made the decision to up sticks and was able to find some investors to help him set up Vistalegre here in 2016. It hasn’t been an easy ride, but towards the end of last year they finally found themselves getting to where they wanted to be, with a reasonably sized brewery, a cute little taproom upstairs and a growing reputation, only for Covid-19 to hit. Vistalegre has fortunately survived the pandemic, which sadly can’t be said for all Colombian craft breweries, and has had to adapt to a more domicilios-based approach to make up for lost taproom sales. 

The beers

While Vistalegre’s beer recipes are constantly evolving, Daniel still makes the same three styles of beer he made 10 years ago in Venezuela – a blonde ale, an amber ale and a smoked porter – as well as a recently added saison. The La Ahumada Porter has deservedly won awards both inside and outside Colombia, including a gold medal in Venezuela and a bronze in Panama. It’s unique, it’s as smoky as it promises to be, and it’s by far my favourite of Vistalegre’s beers. 

However, it’s now a seasonal beer at the brewery and won’t be back for a while, so I’d better talk about my second favourite of Daniel’s offerings instead: the Boreal American Amber Ale.

The Boreal is nicely distinct from most amber ales. The sweetness is still there, but the caramel malt provides more of a stout-style ‘burnt toast’ note, rather than the dry biscuity malt hit that most amber ales have. Daniel uses Simcoe hops (much more popular in IPAs and more hop-driven beers), which gives a big citrus and pine edge to the beer, again making it somewhat unique as an amber ale. It starts off surprisingly tart, but this soon subsides and it ends up being an eminently smooth easy-drinker. 

Where to get ‘em:

You can currently find Vistalegre beers at Carnivoros and the 2600 Brauhaus, just a couple of blocks from Parque 93. I highly recommend checking out the brewery and taproom though, which you’ll need to organise ahead with Daniel (details below).

Outside of this, it’s all domicilios. Vistalegre currently sells the Saudade Saison, Boreal and Summer Blonde, all of which will set you back $40,000 COP (plus delivery) for a six pack (you can mix and match to your heart’s content), and $144,000 (free delivery) for a slab of 24. Deliveries go out on Thursday and Friday, and you can pay with either cash, Nequí or bank transfer.

To order, simply get in touch through Instagram or hit up Daniel himself on WhatsApp on 310 331 1904

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It’s not very often we come across Purity Rule puritans making traditional German-style beer in the craft beer world, but that’s at least how one might superficially describe Hopulus. Part photography gallery, part German bakery, part brewpub, and part biergarten, Galería Hopulus is a swanky little establishment nestled in Bogotá’s leafy La Cabrera neighbourhood. It’s hard to know exactly where to start with this multifaceted little gem, so let’s just start by saying it’s yet another family-owned craft brewery, run by CEO Felipe Santander and his German frau Julia Santander (CFO). 

It’s worth popping in to Hopulus just to talk beer with Felipe, to be honest. The guy’s an absolute wealth of knowledge when it comes to German beer, whether it be historical brewing methods or why all Cologne breweries seem to have red branding. Felipe got into brewing at the age of 25, when he was working for Siemens in Nuremberg. That part of Germany, Franconia, famously has the largest density of breweries in the world, making Felipe fell in love with the idea of micro-brewing, soon getting round to doing it himself. He did some courses at the prestigious Doemens Academy in Munich, where he crossed paths with a 22-year-old Venezolana called Emily.

Read our guide to craft beer in Bogotá as we keep adding to it

Back in Colombia, Felipe started on the same 30L equipment all us homebrewers are familiar with, toiling through seven batches a night in order to fill up his massive fermenters. He was about to start Hopulus as a solo-brewer when two weeks before production he was emailed a CV by Emily’s mentor, Alexis Bolívar. Alexis had been working for Venezuela’s biggest brewer, Polar, for 18 years (they’d even sent him to hone his craft in Germany 10 years prior), and was now looking for a job across the border. Now Santander and Bolívar make German-style craft beer in Bogotá.

As I mentioned in the intro, Hopulus is also an art gallery, funded by the beer, specialising in photography. Felipe invites photographers from all around the world to exhibit their work at the brewery. He has a Hopulus-branded 4WD for camping in the Colombian wilderness on week-long photography trips, and hopes to get the company’s name on as much adventure photography as possible, in the same way that Red Bull does with extreme sports. In fact, Felipe took the Hopulus-mobile out into the Llanos Orientales with the Colombian winner of the 2020 World Wildlife Photo Award, Gabriel Eisenband, only a couple of weeks ago. Gabriel’s work is set to go on display at Galería Hopulus later this month.

The beers

Hopulus currently makes two lagers (Helles and Keller) and two ales (Koelsch and Hefeweizen). The Keller is a dark lager, traditionally from Nuremberg, and Felipe roasts the malt himself on a tiny little coffee roaster in one kilogram batches, the day before brewing. Rare as that is though, I thought I’d talk a little more about the Hefeweizen, as craft brewers tend not to bother with this style nearly as much as one would expect, considering their popularity and ubiquity in Germany. For me, this is by far the most German type of beer, and was my first taste of a foreign ale-style back when I was a young buck in Australia – ‘hang on, this beer tastes like bananas!’ Yes, it’s supposed to, and Hopulus’ Hefeweizen properly delivers on it too. This flavour comes from the yeast and is intensified through ‘yeast management’. Felipe reckons it’s so nutritional that the Germans have it for breakfast. There’s a nice little tartness, as one would expect from a wheat-driven beer, and while I’m no German beer connoisseur, I’d say this beer stands up well against its German cousins.

How to get ‘em

The best way to get hold of any of these beers is to pop into Galería Hopulus in person, take a look at the stunning photography on display, then hope there’s a free table in the beer garden out the front. Just like everything the man does, Felipe’s designed the spot to replicate a traditional German biergarten, down to the stress-reducing gravel floor, which, like sand at the beach, ‘stops you from going fast’, he says. He also says, ‘the moment you walk into our beer garden, your feet sink into the ground and you’re forced to slow down, relax.’ Can’t argue with that I guess, stress like this must be combated. I highly recommend putting this to the test with a plate of their pork knuckle, which I can vouch for first-hand. 

You can find Galería Hopulus at Calle 81 #8-60. It’s open from 12pm to 8pm Tuesdays to Thursdays, noon to 10pm Fridays and Saturdays, and 10am to 6pm on Sundays.

If you’d rather stay at home though, message Felipe on 321 241 5504. Delivery costs $5mil and they go out Tuesdays and Fridays. They sell all their beers in cool-looking, easy-to-hold tubes, and these’ll set you back between $30mil and $35mil, depending on the beer. They also do loads of traditional Germanic food, such as apple strudel and pork knuckle.

For more info, check out the brewery on Facebook or the ‘Gram.

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If you’re after a craft brewery in Bogotá that’s a bit more fun and not afraid to try something slightly unconventional, 3 Cárites could be for you. Founded by Mexican expat Sergio Rodríguez Consejo, this is one of Bogotá’s longer-running and more recognised craft breweries, the bottles having been available in restaurants and bars all over the city for the last five years or so. The brewery’s well-known for its slightly more eccentric/experimental range of beers, and anyone who’s been here for a while and likes their crafties has surely put away a couple bottles of Sergio’s fiery-hot chilli Catrina or his ginger APA.

Sergio’s story of how he ended up in Bogotá brewing beer is not exactly dissimilar to that of many of his peers (minus the Mexico part). Originally a salesman for a telecom company, he was sent from his native Mexico City to Bogotá to run their new office roughly a decade ago. Eventually he decided he actually fancied doing something he liked. While he really liked cooking, he figured that at 31 years of age he was probably a bit long in the tooth to become a chef (yes, that depressed me too), so with an eye on an industry with much less competition (in 2012 this was definitely true here), he decided to try his hand at brewing.

Sergio didn’t go half-heartedly either – he spent the next two years homebrewing Saturday and Sunday of every weekend. He then won 3rd prize at the first Craft and Homebrewing Competition in Colombia with his Ginger APA, and decided after that to open up his own brewery in 2014. He soon had a brewpub round the back of El Lago, which lasted for about a year, before he moved his enterprise down to the famous craft beer community on Calle 45 and opened ‘Cervecistas’, which did good business until unfortunately becoming one of the many casualties of the pandemic lockdown this year. 

3 Cárites also built itself a reputation from being on tap at Mono Bandido, one of Bogotá’s more cherished craft beer pub chains (3 Cárites was their first ever guest beer when they opened up), and Sergio often used to brew with them. Now you can find his beers in 5-6 Mexican restaurants around town, including the trendy Insurgentes up in Chapinero Alto. 3 Cárites is now a four person operation, with three Colombians involved in day-to-day operations. José David is Technical Director and helps Sergio with the brewing, Miller helps out with admin and sales, and Sergio’s wife Paola is Sales Manager.

Read our guide to craft beer in Bogotá as we keep adding to it

One thing that remains very close to Sergio’s heart is the art/hobby of homebrewing, which he’d love to see more of here. With that in mind, 3 Cárites currently sell homebrew kits, which Sergio insists anyone can use without any prior brewing knowledge. For $300,000 COP, you’ll get enough malt extract, hops and yeast to make around 18 litres of American Pale Ale, as well as the 18L fermenter, bottles and caps required. This month and next, they’re planning to release kits for making Stout and IPA as well.

The beers:

3 Cárites do five regular beers and 2-3 seasonals right now. The core range includes the IPA, Ginger APA, Blonde Ale, Stout and a blonde ale named Catrina, made with habanero chillies. As I touched on right at the start, Catrina’s almost certainly Sergio’s most famous beer, and certainly his most recognisable. Loaded with one particular strain of habanero Sergio likes (a LOT of trial and error with fermentation went into the genesis of this beer), this beer leaves a pleasant but noticeable heat on the palate, as you’d expect. Catrina’s husband Catrin, a Chipotle APA, came out this month for Day of the Dead, as well as Catrina Reloaded, which is basically Catrina but with seven different types of chillies and apparently not too spicy, according to Sergio.

My favourite of 3 Cárites’ offerings though, is the Ginger APA. This American Pale Ale is unique for a variety of reasons. For one thing, it’s not at all hop-driven, which sets it on its own as an APA, regardless of reason number two, which is that it tastes like ginger beer! It’s extremely crisp and refreshing, and whilst the ginger is not exactly hidden away or especially subtle, it’s still very pleasant. I was astounded to find out that only about 150g of ginger goes into the end of a 300L boil – I’d easily put a higher percentage of ginger into a Thai curry without batting an eyelid. Like the habanero in Catrina, the ginger lingers on the palette, but once again, this is not a bad thing. The Ginger APA is definitely still a very sessionable beer.

Where to get ‘em:

As I mentioned earlier, you can find 3 Cárites in loads of bars around the city, as well as in Mono Bandido and a handful of Mexican restaurants. Outside of that though, the only current option is domicilio.

3 Cárites currently charge $6,000 COP for bottles of their core range, $8,000 for seasonals and $25,000 for growlers. This month they’re also doing Catrin and Catrina ‘husband and wife’ growler combos for $40,000, as well as various other daily deals.

You can order through Instagram, Facebook, or contact Paola directly through WhatsApp on 320 849 7627. Delivery depends on location and they try to get you the beers within 24 hours.

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Double double toil and trouble; fire burn and cauldron bubble. Fillet of a fenny snake, In the cauldron boil and bake. At Wicca Cervecería, you’re unlikely to find snakes, fenny or otherwise, as they launch a collaboration beer – Tábata – this Saturday at 2600 Brauhaus. 

The Bogotá beer scene has a good habit of encouraging co-working and Tábata is the result of Wicca teaming up with Brauhaus and Chelarte. You’ll need to reserve a table (COVID) and you can do that with Wicca, or either of the other two breweries. It’s $60,000 a person which includes dinner, a glass of Tábata and a cocktail.

Double toil and trouble, though, is a pretty apt description of their founding. The brewery sprang up in quarantine, as Leiddy Rincón, Geraldine Reina and Jennifer Ramírez all found themselves adrift. Previously, Leiddy had worked for Season Beer, Jennifer at Baloo and Geraldine for Gigante. As the pandemic took its toll, they all ended up with lots of spare time. Leiddy and Jennifer are founder members of the Comunidad de Mujeres Cerveceras, and got to talking about the idea of clubbing together to make some beers.

They needed a name, though, and had always been fond of calling the Comunidad de Mujeres Cerveceras ‘brujas’, or witches. That name wasn’t well-received with other members of the collective, but between the three of them, there wasn’t a problem. In the end, though, Wicca seemed like a more elegant compromise and thus the brewery was born.

Jennifer says she remembers thinking, “If we don’t do it now, we won’t do it.” Leiddy chimes in to point out, “We had an advantage, that we had experience and we knew a lot,” before Geraldine finishes “…And people knew us, they knew that they could trust us.” It’s fascinating to listen to the coven together, as the conversation flashes from one to the other in quick succession. 

Geraldine was right to say that people trusted them – because their first batch of beers was a runaway success. They’d budgeted to sell around 35 beers on the first weekend, hoping to sell the others later. Orders soon poured in as the word spread, and they sold 91 packs (364 beers) in the end. That’s a whole order of magnitude more. It looks like the runes auger well for these witchy women!

The beers

Wicca have kicked things off with four regular beers, as well as the special Tábata. Tábata is highly unusual, as it doesn’t have hops. Instead, flavour comes from a blend of camomile, juniper, rosemary, marjoram, lemongrass and bayleaf. It’s a tradition going back to medieval European beers that predate hop cultivation and also can be sourced locally here in Colombia, making it more eco-friendly.

Read our guide to craft beer in Bogotá as we keep adding to it

Remarkably, the regular beers all clock in at 5%, making them considerably more session-able than many Bogotá offerings. They have a standard IPA (Ancas de Rana) as well as a Cream Ale (Agua Lunar) and an American Amber Ale (Sangre de mis Enemigos). The one we want to talk about though, is the fruity Catherina Sour (Locura Colectiva).

Locura Colectiva is about as close to a ‘gateway sour’ as it gets, in terms of drinkability and tartness. The beer is loaded with hibiscus after fermentation, which apart from giving it its delicate flavour, also means it comes out of Wicca’s psychedelic medicine bottles a lovely grapefruit pink colour. “We wanted this colour for our flagship beer, exalting the colour everyone associates with women,” says Geraldine. 

Our other beer writer, Tristan Quigley, pronounced it an excellent specimen of its genre in Colombia. He is a big sour fan and tasted it in the heat of the Llanos, where admittedly any lighter sour beer worth drinking should perform well. 

Locura is tart enough to quench the thirst and keep it interesting, yet pleasantly sweet at the same time. “I can see this beer converting a lot of open-minded beer drinkers who may have originally bristled at the very idea of a sour beer,” he said. 

How to get them

Wicca sell via social media, so there’s Instagram, facebook or simply WhatsApp (302 3181010). Beers come in 4-packs at $45,000 incl delivery in Bogotá or Cali. They send orders out on Wednesdays and Fridays, so time your requests well. 

Tábata is a 750ml bottle and can be ordered in a fancy presentation box for $80,000 or on its own for $49,000. The presentation box features a set of three potions and a souvenir glass in which to mix them, as well as a booklet on potion-making and the beer itself.

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Pola del Pub AKA El Irish AKA The Irish Pub is one of the capital’s oldest craft beer providers. El Irish first popped up in the Zona T in 2001, serving pints of Guinness to rolos who had no idea just how lucky they were. There’s sadly no Guinness now, as official distributors sadly stopped selling to Colombia many moons ago, but that hasn’t stopped El Irish from remaining one of the most reliable locations to find a high quality pint in Bogotá. There are now four more pubs across the city, as well as the original in the T. 

El Irish had always offered alternatives to Bavaria on their taps, but it was only this year that they started their very own craft brewery. They rebranded to Pola del Pub and now make their own versions of five craft staples. Of course, this is not a case of a bartender trying hand at brewing – Berny Silberwasser founded the Bogotá Beer Company (now part of beer giant Bavaria), Palos de Moguer and Cervecería Colon. Head brewer Charlie Suárez has been brewing for around 20 years now, after originally starting off in the industry as a brewery security guard. The third partner, Tomás Delfino, is one of the only certified beer cicerones in the country. So it’s hardly surprising that the first cans coming out of Pola del Pub tasted like they’d been making them for decades. The first batch of IPAs sold out the same night they arrived from the brewery in Tocancipá.

Read our guide to craft beer in Bogotá as we keep adding to it

According to Tomás, the main objective for Pola del Pub is to improve the overall quality of Colombian craft beer. He sees the industry as one in which so-called competitors work together in order to raise the overall standard of their collective market. As he sees it, “The more people try craft beer, the more they’ll fall in love with it and the better it is for everyone involved. There’s room for everyone [in the market].” This isn’t just hollow sentiment either. Before the pandemic hit, the pub in Quinta Camacho boasted 24 taps of local craft beer. They currently only sell their own beers at this stage of the city’s ‘re-opening’, but plan to reintroduce the other crafties as soon as possible.

The beers

Pola del Pub currently makes five core beers: Rubia, American Pale Ale, Witbier, IPA, and Nitro Coffee Milk Stout. They’ve also got a seasonal out right now – a refreshing and creamy White IPA to mark the 19th anniversary of El Irish. I haven’t had cause to try the Rubia or Witbier. (I’m sure they’re great, but just look at the other four types they offer). I can vouch for the four American-style beers 100%. Both IPAs are loaded up with citrus- and tropical-note hops (Calypso and Asacca to name a couple) and APA hits a dangerously sessionable balance of biscuity maltiness and refreshing citrus late hops. That leaves us with the Nitro Coffee Milk Stout, which deserves its own paragraph.

As someone who only half-jokingly thinks nitro carbonation should be a legal requirement of dark beers, and who seeks out Guinness whenever he leaves Latin America, I was always going to struggle not to love this beer. Funnily enough, its very existence is partly because Tomás and his partners were sick of copping stick for being an Irish Pub without Guinness, and so decided to make their own nitro stout. I’m glad they did. 

Of course, this is not just some Guinness rip-off either. The beer contains coffee from local microroasters Colo Coffee and is brewed with whole Colombian vanilla pods. Tomás laments the fact that most core beer ingredients need to be imported, so they always use as many Colombian-made products as possible. For anyone who hasn’t brewed a Milk Stout before and is wondering how that works, it’s also brewed with lactose, which provides a thicker, creamier body and a hint of sweetness, as it doesn’t ferment with brewing yeast. 

How to get ‘em

Obviously the best way to get hold of these beers is to pop into your closest Irish Pub and sit outside in the sun. Each location has ample outdoor space, making it the ideal place for pandemic beers. There are pubs in La Candelaria, Quinta Camacho, Usaquén, Cedritos and Zona T (addresses below), and they’re open every day from 12pm to 1am. They also serve typical Colombian pub fare, i.e. pizzas, burgers, empanadas, to go with the food. 

If you’d rather stay in though, just hop on their website and they’ll have chilled cans with you in less than an hour. The cans are American pint-size (473mL) and come in biodegradable packaging. They also sell whole kegs, which come with everything you’ll need to serve the beer, including the glassware. Cans are currently all sold out, but will be back available again in about two weeks.

La Candelaria: Carrera 3 #12-37
Quinta Camacho: Carrera 10A #70-48
Zona T: Carrera 12A #83-48
Usaquén: Carrera 6A #117-45
Cedritos: Carrera 7C Bis #139-82

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