Brazilian beer

Much to my dismay, though definitely not a surprise, the beer selection in Brazil is disappointing.  The 'quality' beers here are Heineken and Stella Artois, and the European influence is obvious in many of the local beer names (and lack of taste).  While I don't doubt that good beer exists, it is definitely not common.

However, the beer is also reflective of the culture; beer is not meant to be an elite beverage as much as an inexpensive way to hydrate and replace electrolytes.  They cost 4 Real ($1.75) on the street, and 6-8 Real in restaurants ($3).  As much as I don't really like Bud Light, it has a time and a place.  Fortaleza is like a never-ending beach BBQ, so crappy light beers fit right in.  They're okay cold, and terrible warm, but most restaurants bring bottles out in buckets of ice and leaves them on the table.  Cheaper restaurants use large koozies instead.  The most common are Antarctica, Skol, and Brahma, but we've made a point of seeing how many different ones we can find.  We've found:

1. Antarctica
2. Antarctica Original (only comes in big bottles)
3. Schin
4. Brahma (most popular, but might be the worst)
5. Devassa
6. Skol (basically water)
7. Skol Beats
8. Itaipava (foil lid over the can, fancy!  But still crappy)
9. Bohemia
10. Bavaria (like Budweiser)
11. Kaiser

A personal favorite

After extremely little debate, we've agreed that these all taste more or less exactly the same.  Some are a little more Budweiser, and some are a little more Corona, but there isn't much difference.  Either way, don't bother with any of these if you see them at your local package store unless they're cheap.