The Manual may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site.

Miss Your Cruise Vacation? Take Home a Carnival Cruise Beer When It’s Over

By Pat Evans Published August 6, 2021

Carnival Cruise Line is stepping up its beer game by adding some on-shore production to support its floating breweries.

Since the cruise company launched on-ship breweries on two ocean liners (Carnival Vista and Carnival Horizon) in 2016, Carnival has served up 300,000 pints of its beer. Pleasing plenty of palates on those two vessels, Carnival decided it was time to roll out the brand to its other ships and let passengers take home a bit of liquid relaxation. A third on-ship brewery will launch in December aboard the Carnival Panorama, as Carnival brewmaster Colin Presby nears a five-ship cut level and his hope to be “brew admiral.”

carnival beer cans — Colin Presby, Carnival Cruise Line’s brewmaster (left), and Edward Allen, Carnival’s vice president of beverage (right). Image used with permission by copyright holder

“With the success of our breweries on Carnival Vista and Carnival Horizon the obvious next step was to let all of our guests fleetwide enjoy our refreshing craft beers,” said Edward Allen, Carnival’s vice president of beverage operations. “To be the first cruise line to ever scale up its beverage operations by canning and kegging their own beer is unprecedented.

Recommended Videos

“My hope is that our guests will take a four-pack home with them to share with family and friends as a refreshing and memorable reminder of their cruise.”

“My hope is that our guests will take a four-pack home with them to share with family and friends as a refreshing and memorable reminder of their cruise.”

With a limited amount of space onboard the ships with breweries, the cruise line partnered with Florida’s Brew Hub to contract brew and package the beers for fleet-wide distribution in tap and on draft. Brew Hub is a contract brewing facility that allows brands like Carnival to scale up.

Carnival’s brewery is now packaging three of its beers in 16-ounce cans, including Thirsty Frog Caribbean Wheat, ParchedPig West Coast IPA, and ParchedPig Toasted Amber Ale. Just like breweries on the mainland, the cruise line’s breweries also like to experiment with seasonals, such as Miami Guava Wheat and Pumpkin Spice Ale.

All three of the recipes to be packaged were developed by the Carnival brewing team and scaled up at the Brew Hub facility in Lakeland, Florida.

”Carnival’s team of brewers have created three amazing craft beers, and we could not be more excited to be working together,” said Tim Schoen, CEO and Founder of Brew Hub. “Now passengers on all 26 Carnival ships will be able to enjoy these fresh, high-quality craft beers on every voyage and take some home after their trip.”

Topics

Liquor, Beer, Wine & Drinks

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Pat Evans is a writer based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, focusing on food and beer, spirits, business, and sports. His full…

Food & Drink

These are the best gin mixers to have in your home bar

Gin works wonders with a number of mixers. Here are the best ones to keep on hand

Gim gimlet in coupe glasses

Gin may be the most spring-like spirit out there. No matter what season it is, with its in-bloom characteristics, it's a highly aromatic, highly botanical spirit that smells and tastes a lot like the fresher, flower-filled air that we associate with spring. Turns out, the clear spirit goes exceedingly well with certain mixers, too.

So, if you want it to feel like spring no matter what time of year it is, and you're interested in gin drinks like some of the classic gin cocktails, we have a few pointers. A number of fellow liquids not only go great with gin, but they also enhance the stuff. Some, like a good tonic, are pretty expected, but there are lesser-knowns like Earl Grey tea, too.

Food & Drink

Tequila: 5 easy ways to tell what’s quality and what’s not when buying your next bottle

This is what makes a quality tequila

Tequila on a wood table

As a category gets more popular, a specific universe expands, and the details inside can get a little hazy. It makes sense -- more players, more opportunities for some makers to cheat the system or pursue profit over quality.

Tequila's moment has turned into a bonafide era. The agave spirit continues to do well, with an ever-increasing number of premium producers entering the field and getting their products stateside. And you, the savvy consumer, want to know what you're drinking, right?

Food & Drink

Après-ski guide: The best liquors and beer to take with you

Liquors and beers for the mountain

Ski beer

Winter is almost here and all the snow-covered, wintry activities that it entails. We’re talking about snow tubing down seemingly treacherous hills, sibling snowball fights galore, countless snow angels, and days spent downhill skiing and snowboarding. But while the latter is a great wintertime activity on its own, it’s even better when you add in the après-ski component.

Don’t know what après ski is? Well, it’s a French phrase that literally translates to "after skiing." But instead of simply lounging and resting your aching joints after navigating every hill and completing an eight-hour lift pass (or simply after a few runs), après ski is all about the after-skiing (or snowboarding) social activities. And by social activities, we’re talking exclusively about boozy drinks.