Not only do we boast talented chefs that excel at preparing your favourite Belizean cuisine, but our country also has exceptional bartenders. Pairing a glass of something with the distinct flavor of the country’s local rum elevates the experience of enjoying a drink to a memorable level. As we sit down at a restaurant, the question that arises is, “What can I get you to drink?”
You have the opportunity to explore the local twist on some of the more well-known international drinks or indulge in an original Belizean mixed concoction. This can be natural non-alcoholic drinks or regular drinks. Here’s a curated list of popular options to consider.
And always remember, enjoy your drinks responsibly. And please be very aware of The Rules Of Drinking Alcohol In Belize.
Non-Alcoholic Drinks
To drink, there’s nothing more refreshing than a fresh lime juice, orange juice, watermelon juice, pineapple juice, tamarind juice or other freshly made fruit juice drinks. Try a half and half watermelon and lime juice. Drinks made from soursop, sorrel, Dragon Fruit (pitaya) and Flor de Jamaica (hibiscus flower) are popular and widely available. Perhaps the best for hot summer days or to recover and re-hydrate from the nights of partying. In Belize, it’s usually just the natural juice, perhaps mixed with water and without extra sugar added. Fruit juices are best made fresh, but for convenience you can find most fruit juices in the supermarket or gas station convenience stores in their beverage cooler section.
Sea Moss Drinks
Sea moss shakes and other delicious drinks from this natural and healthy product from the Caribbean sea, deserves its own article. Check out our article on Belize’s Sweet Seaweed Shakes.
Soda and Soft Drinks
For soft drink drinkers, brands bottled in Belize, including regular Coca-Cola, as in Mexico use at least part cane sugar instead of all corn syrup for sweetening. Fans claim local Coke tastes different, and better, too. Imported soda from the United States and Mexico in cans is widely available. Starbucks coffee in bottles and other coffee drinks in cans are also widely available. Belize produces a number of brands of bottled water, with Crystal from Bowen and Bowen Ltd. (see below) being the most popular. Bowen sells soda water and tonic water (in both bitters pink and regular clear versions), too. Red Fanta, sometimes called the “national drink of Belize,” Orange Fanta and other Fanta flavors, plus Sprite are also made locally by the Bowen company.
Canned soda in too many varieties to mention here is imported from the U.S., Mexico, the Caribbean and increasingly, from Asia.
Beer
The country had passed laws to protect its local beer brewers, specifically Bowen & Bowen Ltd. The company was established in 1969 as a joint effort of Cerveceria Hondureña, S.A, the majority shareholder, Barry M. Bowen and Barry’s father, Eric W. M. Bowen, splitting the minority stake. Today the company is run by family members and long-time executives. As a result of protective laws, for several decades only Bowen beers had any real distribution in Belize. It was, and is, illegal to bring in beer from Mexico next door. But beers brewed in Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries, of which Belize is one, may be imported. This means Red Stripe from Jamaica, Carib from Trinidad & Tobago, Kubuli Gold from Dominica and others are sold in Belize. Caribbean International Brewing company based in the Orange Walk district was established in 2020 finally breaking the Bowen monopoly. They produce a full fine of pale lager in bottles and cans and due to the pure water access the company has at its brewery in Carmelita, they are giving Belikin a run for its money. Their brands include Green Pirate, Blue Pirate, Mine Beer and H2O drinking water now competing with Crystal water.
Besides regular Belikin and Belikin Premium (also called export) lagers, Bowen at its brewery in Ladyville near Belize City brews Lighthouse Lager, Belikin Stout, Guinness Stout and Heineken under license and seasonal beers such as Sorrel Stout and a Christmas Chocolate Stout. Regular Belikin is 4.8% alcohol and comes in a 284 ml bottle, approximately 10 oz. (redesigned in 2014) while Lighthouse is 4.2% alcohol and comes in an 8-oz. bottle. The stouts have a higher level of alcohol: The Belikin stouts are 6.5% alcohol and Guinness is 7.5%. The name Belikin comes from a Maya word meaning “Road to the East” and the label includes a graphic of a Maya temple at Altun Ha. Regular Belikin generally costs from US$2 to $3 in bars, with Premium going for US$4 or $5. By the case from a local distributor, Belikin is about US$1 a bottle, plus bottle deposit.
Due to Belize laws it has so far proved difficult to open, or to keep open, craft breweries or brewpubs in Belize. Comment from our contributor:
“The big change in beer and ale making is the growth of the microbreweries. I’m sure it’s happening in Europe as well as in the U.S. and Canada. In some ways I guess it is a reversion to what used to exist, with so many local and regional breweries.
“In and around my little hometown of Asheville, NC, there are at least 10 microbreweries, most connected with restaurants/bars and most with tasting rooms. They do some amazing beers and ales, often seasonal, some retro. Some specialize, such as in Belgian-style beers or English ales. Some sell only draft, others do their own bottling. The bigger ones might do 50,000 cases a year, the smaller ones just a few thousand. Most of the local ones source their own ingredients locally – for example there are farmers here who have started growing hops to sell to the breweries. Asheville and Portland, Oregon, are two big microbrew towns but there must be hundreds, perhaps thousands, around the U.S., and I imagine a city like New York has dozens.
“They haven’t come to Belize yet.” –Lan Sluder
Rum
Belizean-made rums are cheap and tasty. In stores and bars, you’ll see a variety of local rums, chiefly made by Travellers Liquors Ltd., headquartered in Belize City the dominant distiller in Belize, and Cuello’s, based near Orange Walk Town. Cuello’s makes an inexpensive light rum, Caribbean White, which is widely used in mixed drinks in bars. It also produces Caribbean Gold and several other rums, including Caribbean Coconut Rum.
The most famous rum in Belize is One-Barrel, made by Travellers. First introduced in 1990, One-Barrel has won a number of awards, and visitors seem to love it. It is aged one year and has a burnt caramel taste. Travellers also offers more expensive Three-Barrel (Parrot) and FiveBarrel versions of this aged rum, aged respectively three and five years. Our favorite is the Three-Barrel Parrot. In addition, Travellers produces several other lines of rums, including Travellers Gold, a light gold rum; a line of white and flavored rums including Cristal Parrot Light Rum, a premium white rum; a less expensive white, Cristal White; Kuknat Rum, a coconut-flavored rum; and Don Omario vintage rums, including Don Omario Royal Edition, a 15- year-old rum re-released on the occasion of Prince Harry’s visit to Belize in 2012. Strong Rums in Belize go by various names such as Bad Man and Red Top. This are 28% alcohol by volume and up and are cheap and awful.
Bitters
Bitters (or bittahs in Creole) is usually a homemade drink with herbs and barks, such as Billy Webb bark and contribo bark, soaked for a week or two in a high- 15 proof rum. Other varieties imbued with ginger and other jungle plant roots are known as Palo de Hombre and reputedly aphrodisiac. Often some anise is added to improve the taste. Travellers Liquors also sells a commercially made version of this drink. Jackass Bitters, made from the jackass bitter plant, is a folk remedy for upset stomach. Travellers has an interesting small rum museum and tasting room in Belize City, Travellers Heritage Center Museum, (Mile 2½, Philip Goldson 16 Highway, 501-223-2855, open Monday-Friday 8-5, free admission, small charge for tastings), well worth a visit. Travellers and Cuello’s also produce a number of other spirits, including vodka, gin and brandy. These are cheap but are truly awful.
Any imported liquor or liqueur, whether from the U.S., Scotland, England, Mexico, France or elsewhere, will cost you two to three times as much as you’d normally pay. So, especially when ordering drinks in bars, stick to local rum drinks, such as rum and tonic, rum and Coke, rum punch or a daiquiri. Local rum drinks in bars generally cost US$2.50 to $5, whereas a margarita, martini or other drink using imported booze could be US$6 to $12 or more. Wine: Imported wines are pricey in Belize, typically running about twice as much as you’d pay in a supermarket or wine shop in the U.S., due mostly to high import duties. In restaurants, even an inexpensive Chilean wine may be US$10 to $12 a glass. Belize grows no wine grapes, but local people make wine out of all types of tropical fruits. Among the wines you may want to try for the novelty of it are Soursop Wine, Cashew Wine, another sweet wine made from fermented fruits of the “crooked tree” and Ginger Wine, a strongly flavored ginger drink. Fandango is one brand of ginger wine. A bottle of one of these local wines usually costs around US$6 in a grocery. – Lan Sluder