American Tourists Are Drinking Cuba Dry

The Republic of Cuba is in the midst of a very different kind of revolution than the one envisioned by its communist founders.

Following President Obama's historic loosening of travel restriction to Cuba, the island nation is currently struggling to keep up with America's unquenchable thirst for hot beaches and cold brews.

Looming shortages have already been reported with Cuba's two most popular brands, Cristal and Bucanero, both of which are joint ventures between the Cuban government and Belgian beer behemoth Anheuser-Busch InBev.

And while having the backing of the world's largest brewer is crucial for keeping up with mushrooming demand, America's appetite for brewskies is putting a serious strain on the country's production capacity.

Cuba's existing breweries have already committed to producing 33 million cases of beer in order to keep up with the boom in tourism, according to the Costa Rica Star, though that number is far beyond the 19 million cases that their plants can currently handle. As a result, Cuba is relying on a 3 million case beer bailout from Dominican brewer Presidente, and is mulling the construction of a brand new production facility.

Mayle Gonzalez, a sales executive at Bucanero, reportedly told state media that the new plant would be a way of allowing an output that could continue to attract the tourist dollar which fuels Cuba's economy. "We have to build a new brewery to cover these requirement of the economy," Gonzalez said.

According to Reuters, Cuba—a nation of 11 million—attracted 3.52 million visitors in 2015, up 17.4 percent from 2014. American visits were up 77 percent to 161,000, a figure which does not include "hundreds of thousands" of visiting Cuban-Americans, and is only set to rise higher.

¡Viva la Revolución!