Venezuela craft brewers rare bright spot in crisis economy

Caracas

WITH Venezuela's economic crisis leaving consumers struggling to buy basic staple foods, small Caracas brewery Social Club might seem out of place selling craft beer that costs per bottle what a worker earning the minimum wage makes in two days.

But business is booming.

Demand for Social Club's beer regularly outstrips the 3,000 litres it produces a month, according to its owners. Most of it is sold on weekends at a beer garden set up in the garage of its small production facility.

Brewers such as Social Club are a reminder that despite the widespread social misery caused by the country's economic crisis, …