The Rambling Backpacker: Coyhaique: Beer and More Beer and Some Alright Scenery

As mentioned previously, and also as a generally known fact, I like beer. And I don't mean I like swilling Bud Light in large quantities - I go for the more hipster approach of enjoying craft beer, the smaller and more obscure the brewery the better. So of course when I saw an opportunity for a Workaway volunteering at an artisanal brewery in Coyhaique, Patagonia I jumped on it. What better place to get some hands on experience learning to brew beer than in one of the most scenic places in the world?

This was definitely small scale production, the owner/host Mario has set aside a few rooms in his house for brewing and does everything by hand: washing recycled bottles, brewing the beer in small batches, filling the washed bottles, labeling them, and delivering them. You can't get much more hand crafted than that. He was very welcoming and happy to explain all the steps and different techniques used to brew different kinds of beers. The process really isn't that hard and there's so many places you could make it unique that I definitely want to give it a try myself when I get home. I'll be accepting applications for assistants/taste testers come January.

I helped make this

While the North of Chile is all about their wine, and rightfully so, there's quite a large brewing scene down South - my guess is it's that German influence coming through again. One weekend when I was here, there was a beer expo that was attended by 10 breweries all from right in the area. I helped Mario set up and was briefly and somewhat hilariously in charge of the whole stand when he went to buy some food. I guess my Spanish and beer knowledge was good enough since everything was still standing and I hadn't alienated any customers by the time he got back. The upshot to the whole thing was I got an official badge for entry into the event and got to sample all the beer from the different vendors. And honestly, I thought the beer I was helping make was some of the best beer at the event which was pretty cool.

When not drinking free beer, I took time to explore the area, which, as one would imagine, is stunningly gorgeous. All of Chilean Patagonia is pretty remote and isolated so there's miles and miles of uninterrupted mountains, and forests, and streams. I know I keep saying it but it's amazingly beautiful. A lot like how I imagine Middle-earth. There's a pretty large Nature Reserve right on the edge of Coyhaique which has some nice hiking and I took some trips farther down the Carretera Austral to enjoy even remoter areas: the Marble Caves at Río Tranquilo and the Cerro Castillo Nature Reserve. I seem to be over using the words beautiful, stunning, and gorgeous but there's really no other way to describe the sites. They say a picture is worth 1000 words so I'll substitute those in for any description I can write but it still doesn't do it justice. You'll just have to take a trip to Patagonia and see everything for yourself.