Carnival Cruise Line has extended its own line of beer
fleetwide and will let passengers purchase cans to take home.
The line has contracted to produce three of its beers in 16-ounce
cans, which were pre-distributed to 24 of the line's 26 ships before St. Patrick's
Day. The beers will be available later on Carnival's two ships in
Australia.
A waiter on the Carnival Magic with cans of the three beers brewed for Carnival Cruise Line. Photo Credit: Tom Stieghorst
"We wanted to find a way to scale what we're already
doing, take these recipes that our guests love, take them to a great partner
and produce them fleetwide," said Eddie Allen, Carnival's vice president
of beverage.
The canned beers are brewed for Carnival at Lakeland, Fla.-based
Brew Hub.
Guests can choose from Parched Pig West Coast IPA, Parched
Pig Toasted Amber Ale or ThirstyFrog Caribbean Wheat.
The three brews will also be distributed in kegs so
passengers can order them on draft. They will be priced at $6.50, which is more
or less the same price as international beers such as Heineken on Carnival,
said Colin Presby, Carnival's brewmaster.
"The 16-ounce can format has really been taking over
the craft beer market like crazy," Presby said of the decision to produce
the cans in larger than the standard 12 ounces.
Carnival has RedFrog pubs on 10 ships, but the main brew
available there is ThirstyFrog Red. Carnival already brews beer at sea at two
venues on the Carnival Vista and Carnival Horizon.
Presby said that on ships that lack RedFrog pubs, the new
draft beers will be available "everywhere that there is draft,"
including pool bars, Serenity bars and the Havana bars.
Presby said the two questions he answers most often are why
Carnival's beers aren't on more ships and why can't I take some home? "Canning
allows us to do both of those things," he said. "You can throw a
four-pack in your suitcase on the way off the ship.
"It lets us roll [Carnival beers] out in a much more
serious fashion," Presby said.
For now, Carnival won't be selling its beers anywhere on
land. "They are exclusively on Carnival Cruise Line, but you never know,"
Allen said.