The Sane Investor

October 27th, 2008
So first off, let me say that I am not a beer expert. I cannot tell you how hoppy a different beer is, I can’t seriously evaluate a beer on a set of characteristics, and I sometimes have a hard time telling different beers apart. What I can say is that I really like beer.

That being said, I decided to write this article to talk about the most common brands of beer in Buenos Aires, the way the public here seems to view them, and a range of prices that would be “acceptable” for beer here. When talking about price, bear in mind that inflation here is expected to be at about 30% annually. Because of this, you could theoretically expect the price of any good in Argentina to go up 10% every four months. So when you’re reading this, note the date that it was written, and do the math according.

To start off, let’s go over some of the Argentine beer terminology.

Porrón

Porrón is the beer size that we would typically associate with the size of “one beer” or “a bottle of beer”. As strange as it may sound, relatively Porróns are pretty expensive, and at the grocery store they’re actually only a little bit cheaper than a litro of the same beer.

Funny enough, you will not find sixpacks in stores here, but rather individually sold bottles of beer. The same thing goes with cans of the stuff. If it’s a bar running a special, or just a cheaper bar, you might be able to find a Porrón or can of Quilmes for between 4 and 5 pesos. In general, at most typical bars a Porrón of Quilmes is at least 8 pesos, and can go up to 10.

Chopp

Chopp is the term for a glass of beer on tap. Funny enough, most bars do not actually have kegs, and instead either sell individual Porrón sized beers, or use litros to pour (like they’ll have a huge pile of litros of beer in the back and they use those to poor individual glasses). Thus, most bars will advertise when they have Quilmes or some other beer “on chopp”. The way that I use to ask if they have any beer on tap is “¿tenés cerveza de Chopp?”

Litro

If you’re traveling with two or more people, this is my preferred way to drink beer, and it’s the way that the Argentines do it as well (except you´ll see a guy drinking one by himself most of the time). It’s by far the cheapest, and since basically nothing comes out of the tap, the quality is as good as you’re going to get. All liters are in glass bottles but ironically, they aren’t a full liter. They’re actually 970 ml, but everyone just calls them litros. If it’s after class or something and we’re looking to have a beer, we usually just go between cafes and restaurants and ask them if they sell litros. A litro contains about 4 beers more or less, and in general they’re usually just a little bit pricier than a Porrón or bottles of smaller sizes (there are actually many different sizes of beers here, but in general, you want litros, since that’s the cheapest). As far a pricing goes, the cheapest I’ve ever found a litro in a restaurant or bar (this is Quilmes of course) was 8 pesos. Around 10 pesos is still pretty cheap, but once you get up to 15 it’s pricey. For the most part, if they’re selling litros of Stella Artois or Heineken for 15, Quilmes is going to be around 12-13 if they have it.

Now, let’s take a look at the different brands.

Quilmes

If you like to drink beer and you leave Buenos Aires not having tried Quilmes, you have failed. Mainly because it’s damn near impossible to go out and not drink Quilmes. Quilmes would probably be the Budweiser equivalent in Argentina, in that you can drink it at a bar and not look lower class, and since it’s bottled in Argentina it’s cheaper. You can usually tell the bars that consider themselves “high class” because they don’t usually list Quilmes or any other Argentine beer on the menu.

In general, I really like Quilmes, but I’m also a lighter beer kind of guy. You’re going to be hard pressed to find a darker beer here, mainly since I don’t think that Argentines are exactly beer connesuiers. Your best bet is probably Quilmes Stout, but for me it’s just too sweet and not strong enough (it has about the same alcohol content as the Quilmes Crystal, which is the normal Quilmes). See below for more Quilmes types.

Different Types of Quilmes

So the Quilmes I talked about above is the Quilmes Crystal, which is their lighter beer. They also have:

Red Lager: it’s really hard to find different types of Quilmes sold at restaurants. Because of this, my only real experiences with any of these have been times we’ve drunken it at someone´s apartment. If you want to try any of these types, you’ll have to go to a grocery store and pick one up. Buying beer in the grocery stores is by far the best, because a litro of Quilmes Crystal is usually under 3 pesos. The other types climb up to maybe above four, which is where you can pick up Heineken and Stella Artois (under five). As a testament to how ridiculous Argentina’s import taxes are, a litro of Corona will run you over 7 pesos (they do really like Mexican food here though).

But as far as the Red Lager goes, I definitely liked it. The brother I have from the family I’m living with here works as a boss in the marketing department at Quilmes, and he told me that the Red Lager was his personal favorite.

Stout: So I mentioned the stout above as one of the few dark beers you’ll find here. You mostly should try it, because if nothing else it’s a little bit of a cultural experience. My host brother that works at Quilmes told me that the Quilmes Stout is a big seller up in the northern region of Argentina, since they’re really in to sweet things. I can testify to this, since up in the north (Provinces like Salta and Jujuy) they also have their own brands of beer that are a lot sweeter. If you go up to one of these regions, check out the local Kiosco and pick up a litro of their beer. You’ll also always find Quilmes stout there.

In general, the stout is most popular with the females, according to my host brother. The girls here on my program definitely agree with that, so if you’re a female that doesn’t typically go for beer, you should at least give the stout a try.

Bock: I can’t really tell you that much about the Bock, other than I thought that it was pretty good. You should give it a try if nothing else.

Brahma

Brahma would be the Pabst Blue Ribbon of Argentina, in that you can actually find in restaurants on occasion, but it’s definitely the lowest level of beer that you can be drinking. Drinking a bottle of Brahma says that either you got done with a long day of doing a menial labor job, or you really want to get drunk as cheaply as you can.

It’s definitely not a bad beer, and it’s fun to try it if nothing else to see what it’s like. That being said, I’m not going to roll in to a café pleading with the moso (the word for waiter in Argentine Spanish) for a litro of Brahma. They do have funny commercials though.

Isenbeck

I hadn’t had Isenbeck before coming to Argentina, but from what I can tell it’s a German beer. Isenbeck and Iguana are the only two beers that I’ve found in Buenos Aires that have metal screw tops on their bottles in lieu of the typical beer bottle cap. This is usually a sign of the perception of the quality of the beer here, so my guess would be that it’d be definitely lower than Heineken and Stella Artois, potentially even lower than Quilmes. That being said, Brahma doesn’t have a screw top, so take that in to consideration.

Isenbeck is kind of an anomaly, since you’ll usually only find it at Kioscos or small vendors in touristy areas or parks. It’s alright, but I’d still say that I prefer Quilmes to Isenbeck.

Iguana

I’ve seen ads portraying Iguana as the “beach” beer, which leads me to think that it’s like the Corona equivalent here. I’ve heard people tell me that it has this honey, flowery taste to it, but I haven’t noticed it. It’s a bit more common than Isenbeck, but I’d say it’s another one of those “looking for a category” beers in Buenos Aires. Like Brahma, it’s bottled by Quilmes.

Heineken

If you’re from the United States or Europe, you’ve almost definitely had this Dutch beer, so I won’t spend any time talking about its taste or anything. What I will talk about is how surprised you’ll likely be at how cheap Heineken is here. It´s about even keel with Stella Artois for price, meaning that you can find a litro for as little as 10 pesos some places. The average I usually see is about 14 or 15 pesos though.

Stella Artois

This one you may or may not have tried in the U.S., but the Belgian beer is about even keel with Heineken here as far as price and quality perception.

Budweiser

You’ll likely be shocked at the fact that here Budweiser would be just a step below Stella Artois and Heineken on the quality perception and price level. My guess is that because it’s now part of InBev, it can actually be sold here because it doesn’t need to be imported. Although it’s still a fledgling, there are still quite a few fancy bars that serve Budweiser as their “main attraction” (i.e. advertised outside or as part of their sign). You won’t typically find it in most bars, though.

Micro Brews and Small Breweries

This definitely does not exist in any shape or form on the level it does in the United States. Although I’ve been to a brew pub like this (there’s one in Recolleta and Puerto Madero), they’re very uncommon and mostly for the upper class. A pint of beer from one of these places (which is actually really good in my opinion) is 15 pesos, so it’s definitely a step up. Considering that you’ll pay only a little bit less than that for a can of Quilmes in a Boliche (dance club here), it’s definitely not ridiculous.

To read other articles I´ve written on living and traveling in Buenos Aires, click here.

September 22nd, 2008

Now that statement could be more realistic if you were traveling in “el campo” (the countryside), where they raise the cows, but I can certainly tell you that with my host family in Buenos Aires, it is just not the case. Like the U.S. as well though, people eat very different things depending on what part they are from and just generally what the family’s tastes are. So instead of making sweeping generalizations, I’m going to tell you what my host family here eats, so you can at least get a better idea before you come here.

A Dinner in the Life of My Family

So first off, let me say that there hasn’t been a meal while I’ve been here that I couldn’t stand and couldn’t at least finish a plate of. That’s important, because there’s kind of the unspoken agreement in my household that if I don’t eat two plates that I didn’t like the meal. Some nights I just really don’t feel like another plate, and it’s usually followed by me reassuring my host mom that I would tell her if I didn’t like it. That usually works, although I still get the distinct impression that she doesn’t believe me.

But in general, let me say that almost all of my meals consist of either rice or pasta. It usually follows the form of some sort of sauce with beef and vegetables on a bed of rice. The sauces I’ve had have been really good, although I frankly couldn’t tell you what they were, although I’m pretty sure they’re some derivation of tomato sauce. One of the “house specialty” dishes we had one night (I know because my host mother told me “this is my specialty”) was a fried egg on top of rice. However, it should be noted that the rice here isn’t like Chinese food rice (i.e. really dry). They use it more like we use pasta in the United States (i.e. where it would be pasta, sauce, some meat and vegetables, you swap the pasta out for rice). The fried egg and rice dish was actually really good, even though I’m not typically a big “egg” guy.

They also do the pasta thing, but that’s usually just by itself. By that, they don’t put meat or vegetables on the pasta; it’s just pasta and tomato sauce. We always eat bow-tie pasta, and I’ve never eaten spaghetti pasta while I’ve been here. Funny enough, the pasta meal we have has the pasta taking up most of the plate, and three cooked hot dogs right next to it. I usually cut everything up and mash it together, but I’ll admit hot dog with pasta was a bit of a strange mixture.

Milanesa = Chicken Fried Steak + Argentina

Then we come to the more traditional Argentine dishes, which are milanesa and empanadas. We’ve actually eaten milanesa quite a few times, since it’s really easy to make (basically like chicken fried steak, except they typically make it in the oven in my home), and we’ve also done the fish variation of milanesa. Although my family isn’t as big on the mayonesa (mayonnaise), which I’m told is much more common in the other families my friends are living with, it’s not uncommon for me to see my family put plain old mustard or ketchup on milanesa. I always say no thank you, but my mom here is always like “are you sure?”, which leads me to think it’s pretty common.

The Delicious Pastry Called Empanadas

Empanadas are something that you don’t think you’ll like by the sound of it (at least I was a little like “?”), but they’re actually really good, and since they’re really cheap they’re great to get for lunch or sometime where you’re hungry and don’t want to pay a lot of money (they span in price between 1.50 and 3.50 pesos each). They’re like a little crescent pastry, with the insides wrapped inside and then baked. There are essentially two variations I usually eat, and those are the “jamón y queso” (ham and cheese) and “carne” (beef). The jamón y queso one is pretty simple, since it’s basically melted cheese with either chopped up chunks or flat layers of ham. That’s probably my favorite one, because I’m big on melted cheese. The carne one typically has ground beef and bits of fried egg in it, along with a tiny bit of vegetables. It sounds strange, but it’s actually really good. They make some other ones, like spinach, but since I’m really in to that I don’t really get that one. My host mom has made empanadas a few time, but I definitely don’t like hers as much as the ones I’ve found in restaurants or little cafes.

Contrary to Popular Belief, They Do Eat Salad Here

With the milanesa, and sometimes just whenever, my family typically has salad. Now the key difference between an Argentine salad is (1) the complexity and (2) the salad dressing.

(1) By complexity, I basically mean to say that Argentines don’t really have very complex salads. Although you’ll find some different ones eating at restaurants, the typical salad is “lettuce, tomato, onion, carrots and radishes”. There isn’t an “asian chicken salad” or any of the variations of salad that we have in the States (you might be able to find specialty places that sell them if you really want to). The salad ingredients I listed were the ingredients of the most complex salad I’ve ever eaten with my family here. The simplest was “lettuce, onion, tomato”.

(2) Probably the biggest reason for the lack of complexity and variation in the salads stems from the fact that there isn’t any salad dressing, at least not like anything we’re used to in the states. Instead, my family uses sunflower oil and apple vinegar. This is the case in every restaurant I’ve visited that serves salad, since at every table there’s a bottle for oil and a bottle for vinegar. Now at first, I was a little unsure. After growing up always eating salad with salad dressing, the prospect of dumping oil and vinegar on my salad seemed strange, but of course I did it. Now I must say that I actually like salad a lot better, and it’s a habit I’m going to bring back with me to the States. I still love ranch dressing on sandwiches and pizza, but I just won’t be putting it on a salad anytime soon.

Special Occasions

For my family, occasionally when they come back from mass on Saturday or Sunday (I really don’t know why they’ll go one day and not the other sometimes), my family will bring back choripan and milanesa from a little restaurant that I guess is nearby their church. This is my favorite, and I’ll explain why.

Now for me, I’m a really big sausage guy. I love barbecuing with sausage, and I love eating sausages hot dog style. So when I was doing a little bit of cursory reading about Argentina, basically the only thing that I read about was beef. However, I really need to tell you that a typical Argentine “asado” (barbeque) basically has beef, chorizo (sausage), maybe chicken, and maybe another mystery meet (kidney, anyone?). So naturally, I was very pleasantly surprised that they eat a lot of sausage here. However, here probably my favorite dish (more of a sandwich so not really a “dish”) is choripan.

The equation: (1) Chorizo + (2) Pan (bread) = Choripan

It sounds so simple, but it’s so good. The sausage here is really good, and they use really great French bread for almost every sandwich. There is also a range of toppings that you can put on your choripan, which basically include variations of the sauce here called “chimichurri”. It’s hard to describe chimichurri, since it definitely has spices in it, but I would not classify it as spicey in any sense of the word (as an aside, people here don’t really do spicey. They like it on occasion, but their idea of “spicey” is oftentimes comical). It’s basically an herb sauce that you spread on your choripan, but the more important thing is that it’s delicious. If you go to Puerto Madero, which is near San Telmo and the Casa Rosada, and walk along the the border of the Reserva (a part of the coast along the Río de Plata that they basically just let lie fallow and go naturally), there are at least 30 choripan places, where you can get a really good choripan for 4 pesos. My host family, although warning me to be careful getting choripan off the street, told me that along the reserva you’re totally fine to eat the choripan. And I do.

The milanesa they bring back isn’t really milanesa, but really little mini steaks. But they are very good. Although I won’t put mustard or ketchup on steaks or milanesa, I will put chimichurri, since it feels more natural. The steaks that I have had here are really good, and translating back in to US dollars, they’re typically very cheap (for example, there’s this really cool restaurant in San Telmo called Desnivel where you can get a really good steak for 30 pesos).

To read other articles I´ve written on living and traveling in Buenos Aires, click here.

September 8th, 2008


If you’re traveling to Buenos Aires for vacation or for a short stay, you probably won’t find it necessary to use anything but taxis and potentially the Subte (what they call their subway). However, if you’re going to be staying for a bit longer, or you just want to experience Buenos Aires on the cheap, I encourage you to look in to taking the buses (called “Collectivos”) in the city, since they are very comprehensive and although a bit challenging to use at first, once you get the hang of them they’re really the only type of transportation you need to get throughout the city.

So First, What Are the Advantages of the Collectivos?

Before I talk at all about how to use the Collectivos, I’ll first tell you why you might want to consider taking them. Here is my simple reasoning:

(1) They’re Very Cheap: Depending on where you’re going in the city, a bus ride will run you between 90 centavos (90/100 of a peso) and a peso. When you think about the fact that a dollar equals a little more than 3 pesos, that means a bus ride is between U$S 0.30-0.33. Compare this to a taxi fare, which will run you at least $15 (when I don’t put ¨U$S¨, ¨$¨ means pesos) to go the same way, and it is significantly cheaper.

(2) They’re Reliable: Unlike the Subte system which closes at 10:30 PM every night, the Collectivos run 24/7. Thus, if you intend on experiencing any sort of nightlife, or find your dinner going a little late, it’s definitely the best option as far as knowing you’ll be able to get around.

(3) They’re Very Comprehensive: I’ve been living and attending school in Buenos Aires for a little over a month and I have yet to take a taxi because the bus and Subte system is so comprehensive. Depending on where you are in the city, you’re typically not very far from a Collectivo that can take you home, or at least pretty close.

(4) They’re Very Safe: When I write my article on taking taxis I’ll be sure to link this to it, but until then you should know that there are oftentimes incidences, where especially girls, have been robbed and sometimes raped taking taxis at night. For this simple reason alone, I always take the Collectivos because I’ve never heard of someone having a similar experience on one of them.

(5) It’s Fun: Part of the fun of being outside of the United States and being in another country is experiencing what life is like for those people. Living with an Argentine family, I can assure you that everyone takes the Collectivo if they’re not taking the Subte, so if you want to experience what Argentines do every day I would recommend at least trying the Collectivo. They’re really very different from the buses in the United States, and just being able to say “I rode a bus in South America” is pretty cool.

What Are The Disadvantages?

Like any transportation system, there are of course disadvantages to taking the Collectivo versus just a taxi. These reasons include:

(1) Walking and Waiting: Like any bus system, unless you’re really lucky with where you’re going, you’re not going to get door to door service from pickup to delivery. Because of this, you’ll likely have to do some walking to get to and from bus stations, and some waiting for some buses. (To give you an idea, sometimes it might be as far as a 10 block walk if you’re off the beaten path, and if you’re taking a low frequency bus at night, you could be waiting for as short as 5 minutes or as long as 40 depending on which bus you’re taking). With a taxi, you’re coughing up the extra money to get picked up exactly where you are at exactly when you want to go to exactly where you want to go. If it’s worth the extra money to you, I might just recommend doing a taxi.

(2) Finding your stop: Like I mentioned about with the number 5 advantage for taking the Collectivo in Buenos Aires, that very same “fun” aspect can be really annoying if you’re trying to get somewhere on a timeline and you don’t know were it is you’re going. The bus drivers here do not announce the stops ahead of time, and if you want to get off, you have to press the buzzer beforehand. Because of this, it is extremely important that you know the cross streets that your bus is going to hit before it gets to the street you’re going to. This usually translates in to frantically looking out the window as the street signs go whizzing by trying to figure out where you are. The bus drivers here drive very fast, and although that can be great if you know where you’re going, it can be a nightmare when you’re trying to meet a friend for dinner in Recoleta or Palermo, two areas that don’t typically have street signs on all the roads (the usually have them up on the buildings, and even then they´re infrequent). That being said, the bus drivers here are typically very friendly, and if you let him know that you need to get off at ¨X¨ street but don’t know where it is, and then request for his help, if you stand near the front he’ll likely let you know. Also, other people on the bus are typically very helpful, and they’ll help you figure out when you’re close.

(3) Communication: Bear in mind, since this is a method of transportation used by the locals, and other people will be waiting on you to get on the bus, it is very important that you have the necessary communication skills in Spanish to express where you want to go. Typically all you have to say is “Hasta ¨X¨” where “X” is the cross street you want to get off at. However, if you need to ask for help finding a stop, or in making sure that this bus is going where you need to go, make sure that you have enough of a basic understanding of Spanish to ask for the help and to then understand his answer. Although most people here know a couple of gimmicky English phrases and words here, typically most Argentines could not have a practical conversation with you. Think of it like most people in the United States: their comprehension of Spanish is maybe 5 or 6 words. This will be your experience here as far as English, so if you don’t have someone with you that can speak a reasonable level Spanish, make sure you learn a little bit yourself.

Ok, So I Want To Take One…What Should I Do?

So my first recommendation is as soon as you get here, either ask someone at your hotel’s front desk where you can find a “Guia T”, or just find a magazine/newspaper stand on the street, since they typically sell them. The little pocketbook runs about five pesos, and it is extremely important for getting around, especially if you ever get lost (see picture below for cover of the guide).

The reason that this little booklet is helpful is that not only does it have all the streets and major buildings in Buenos Aires, it also has all the buses that you can take. Understanding how to use the guide can be a little tricky sometimes, so let me explain.

Say your hotel is on “X” street, number 2000. In the front of your Guia T, you’re going to find a map of Buenos Aires, Capital Federal, and all of the neighborhoods that the city is divided in to. This is helpful because the guide book is arranged by planos (planes), and if you see that you’re staying in Puerto Madero, you’ll know that you have to go to Plano 18 to see that area’s map. Another page forward from the general map at the front and you’ll see an index for all the streets. Simply find street “X” in the index, and then depending on what number it is, you’ll go to a different Plano and Plano section (each Plano is arranged in square quadrants, with letters A to D to differentiate quadrants horizontally, and 1 to 6 to differentiate quadrants vertically).

For example, say I’m looking for Bacacay street, building number 920. That means I’m going to go to Plano 22, quadrant A2 (see picture below).

Now, say I’m staying in Plano 17, quadrant B2 (green square below), and I’m trying to get to quadrant C5 on the same Plano (red square below), which is close to the Casa Rosada (essentially their White House). To find the buses that I can take, I need to look on the page to the left of the map (pictured below, with the little blue pockets for each quadrant with numbers). The quadrants on that page directly correspond to the quadrants on the map page, and to find all the buses that service that quadrant, simply look in the pocket icon at the numbers. Once you’ve found those, you have to cross check those with the numbers of the quadrant that you’re trying to go to. As I highlighted, the 111 is the only bus that will take you there. However, if you go over one more quadrant to the blue square, you’ll see that there are a bunch that you can take to that quadrant.

Once you’ve found the buses, you can look in the back at the bus and see the streets it goes through. “Ida” meaing going out, “Vuelta” means coming back. Since this back index of the buses is fairly challenging to understand, your best bet is to find someone in that quadrant and ask them where the bus stop is for that bus line (“Sabés donde está la parada para la linea ‘X’”?). Better yet would be to ask a cop, or someone working at a kiosco. Once you find the stop, and get on the bus, make sure you ask the bus driver if that bus goes to whatever cross street you’re trying to get off on (“Andás a ‘X’?”).

Getting On and Off the Bus: How it Works

So unlike the U.S., where the buses stop at all of the stops, here that doesn’t work the same way. Thus, if you’re waiting at a bus stop, you need to keep a look out for the bus you want to take, and once you see it coming up make sure you stick out your hand and wave so that the driver knows that you want to get on. Then, make sure you get on quickly since if you don’t, they’ll likely leave without you (don´t panic about it, but just know they don´t have much patience).

Once you get on, like mentioned in disadvantage 3, you have to let the bus driver know where you’re going. He’ll then plug in that amount in to the change collecting machine, and it’ll say either a peso or 90 centavos. You then put that money in to the machine (it’s usually a spinning little wheel that picks up change). Then, at the bottom you’ll get a little ticket and whatever change you were ment to get. Sit down or stand depending on how soon you’re getting off and if there’s enough room. When you want to get off, go to the door in the back, and push the buzzer button on the metal support bars near the door. Once you buzz, he’ll stop at the next stop and you can get off. Try and get off as quickly as possible, since they’re on a timeline and if you don’t get off enough, they’ll continue without you.

To read other articles I´ve written on living and traveling in Buenos Aires, click here.