"Matanzas hotels are forced to sell only Parranda beer"

Matanzas/Several private businesses in Matanzas are adorned with tents, flags and posters of the Parranda beer, a brand that in a short time has displaced its national competitors in several businesses of the island. The authorities incite or even press bars, coffee shops and private restaurants to hire the toneles service of this brand at a competitive price, which has triggered its consumption among the inhabitants of the city.

“As a worker I do not think it is a bad option for customers, the price of beer varies between 120 pesos the small vessel and 250 the jug,” he tells this Jelena newspaper, which works as a dependent in the colonial courtyard, headquarters of the Brothers Saíz association, whose direction decided to lease its space to a particular business with a contract for parranda tones.

On the reaction of the clients, he adds: “It has had good acceptance, although there are always brewer people who refuse to the parranda and prefer Mayabe or other national brands destined for export.”

Parranda arrived in the heart of the Matancera neighborhood. The administrator of a place explains to 14ymedio: “Due to the low tourist demand in the province and especially in Varadero they wanted to extend the sale to individuals, they did not keep the stores full of beer.” But the competition is far from being fair: “To the hotels in the city, for example, they are forced to sell only Parranda, even if they have other brands,” he confesses.

His criticisms go far beyond the regulations that favor the brand. On quality, he believes: “Believe me, the barrel of bone is not the same as the bottle. The plastic containers are of very bad quality and give a terrible flavor to beer. They are so bad and toxic that they do not serve to store water after open.” However, he alleges that they must keep the contract despite dissatisfied customers.

In 2024, several lots of Parranda were removed from circulation due to conservation problems that, According to the companyoccurred outside the plant, in the storage and transport process. This episode generated a debate about the cold chain in Cuba and about the need to shorten the times between production and consumption. In response, the company announced changes in its logistics and a strategy to sell as directly as possible to the final consumer.

Despite the incident, the brand is a symbol of the government’s strategy to attract foreign direct investment towards sectors of mass consumption. Mariel’s new plant was presented at the Official Press As one of the most modern in the region, equipped with high -speed bottling lines and automated systems. The investment, estimated at about 100 million dollars, was conceived not only to supply the domestic market, but also to reduce import dependence. The government bet for the success of the Parranda is openly manifested.

The Cuban beer map has three main poles. The Bucanero SA brewery, located in Holguín, is the industry giant. There are the glass, buccanero, Mayabe and Cacique brands, in bottle, can and barrel versions. It is the plant with the greatest capacity and the one that has received investments to expand production lines and modernize the packaging, including barrels for the tourism sector. Although non -branded figures are not published, it is estimated that Bucanero concentrates most of the national production.

In Camagüey, the Tínima brewery maintains a more discreet but strategic profile. It produces the homonymous brand and, when its capacity allows it, it supplies the central-oriental region. Official reports have highlighted their reactivation in recent years after periods of inactivity due to lack of raw materials. Its exact production is not always disclosed, but is part of the consolidated national volume.

The third pole is the most recent incorporation into the beer landscape: the plant of the Mixed Cuban beer company SA in the Special Development Zone of Mariel, where the Parranda brand occurs. This project, the result of the association between the state of Cuba Ron SA and the Dutch Swinkels Family Brewers, was presented as one of the most ambitious foreign investments in the beverage sector. It is designed to produce up to one million hectoliters per year, which, if reaching that rhythm, would place it at the buccanero level.

Rigoberto, a matancer who prefers beer before the rum or any other drink, jokes about the flavor of the brand: “Parranda is the best Cuban beer of those who know carnivals. But he knows carnival beer, let’s not fool ourselves.”

In street speech, especially in the context of popular festivals, it is common to listen to comments such as that Carnival beer is “reduced with water” or that “knows a donkey”, a colloquial and satirical form of saying that it is very watering or poor taste. These comments reflect an extended perception that the beer that is served in barrels or dispenser is usually lower than that sold in bottle or can in stores, either because it arrives hot, poorly preserved or even diluted to perform more.

Parranda’s strategy, for the moment, gives results for business owners who, apart from good prices, also receive souvenirs and glassware for their businesses. Some come to mutter that behind the brand is some “fat fish” of the government. Others continue to prefer the traditional glass and buccanero. There is no lack of those who long for extinct marks such as Polar or Hatuey. The truth is that the suffocating heat of the island, the limited competition and the capacity of the pockets do not leave too many options. “It’s not my favorite,” says the Matancero drinking a glass of Parranda, “but it is the one I can pay.”