Carnival Vista RedFrog Pub Gets a Real Brewery!

Carnival Vista RedFrog Pub adds Concrete Beach Brewery.

When the Carnival Vista sets sail in Europe on May 1, the new onboard brewery will be the first ever brewery at sea. Carnival’s partnership with Miami-based Concrete Beach Brewery will feature three hand-crafted beers brewed onboard and served in the Carnival Vista RedFrog Pub and Brewery.

Straight from the Italian shipyard, take a peek at the constuction:

Carnival Vista’s RedFrog Pub & Brewery is the result of a unique collaboration between Carnival and Miami-based Concrete Beach Brewery. Together, they will create original recipes and produce three new hand-crafted beers to be served on the Carnival Vista.

Raise a glass to the new:

• ThirstyFrog Port Hoppin’ IPA: Offering aromatic, floral and hoppy notes with passion fruit and citrus overtones
• ThirstyFrog Caribbean Wheat: An unfiltered lager with aromas of bananas and spices
  
• FriskyFrog Java Stout: A take on a traditional stout, rich and creamy with hints of coffee

At-sea brewery is new but the partnership is long-standing.

Carnival and Concrete Beach Brewery have worked together to offer guests craft beers across the entire fleet. Carnival’s U.S. based ships already serve the Concrete Beach Brewery’s Rica Wheat IPA, Angel City Brewery’s Pilsner, Coney Island’s Hard Root Beer and 1609 Amber. Other Carnival ships sailing from Miami feature Concrete Beach Stiltsville Miami-style Pilsner, while Long Beach, CA based ships offer Angel City Brewery IPA. Cruises that depart from New York City serve Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner.

In case you’re wondering who Concrete Beach Brewery is, it’s one of several breweries around the country that are part of the Alchemy & Science brand and a subsidiary of The Boston Beer Company.

If you didn’t visit a RedFrog Pub on your last Carnival cruise, you’ve missed out on a fun venue. Along with your beer, you can order snacks like Coconut Shrimp with Piña Colada dipping sauce, Bahamian Conch Salad – a red-hot lime and chili marinated conch accompanied by cooling celery, tomatoes and onion plus several more savory appetizers and a few sweet surprises.

The Carnival Vista begins an inaugural season sailing from Europe on 8-, 10- and 13-night itineraries from Barcelona. On October 21, Carnival Vista will make a transatlantic crossing to New York City and then reposition to Miami with an 11-night cruise on November 16. Then the Carnival Vista will sail 6- and 8-night cruises to the western and southern Caribbean, respectively.

“We’ve been working for months with these talented partners who have helped us create three exciting and unique craft beers for Carnival Vista and we anticipate our guests are going to absolutely love them,” said Eddie Allen, Carnival’s vice president of beverage operations.

Allen noted that the brews were specifically designed with Carnival Vista guests in mind. ThirstyFrog Port Hoppin’ IPA offers aromatic, floral and hoppy notes with passion fruit and citrus overtones while ThirstyFrog Caribbean Wheat is an unfiltered lager with aromas of bananas and spices. The third beer, FriskyFrog Java Stout, is a take on a traditional stout, rich and creamy with hints of coffee.

“It was an honor to be a part of this one-of-a-kind project, and we feel like we created a great variety that is sure to please guests,” said Jon Carpenter, Concrete Beach Brewery Brewmaster. “It’s common for vacationers to want to test out the local beer and Carnival Vista has taken the concept of local, and applied it to the decks of their ship.”

The beers to be featured on Carnival Vista further build upon a greatly expanded selection of craft beers across the entire Carnival fleet. U.S.-based Carnival ships already serve Concrete Beach Brewery’s Rica Wheat IPA, Angel City Brewery’s Pilsner, Coney Island’s Hard Root Beer and 1609 Amber. On a regional basis, Carnival ships sailing from Miami feature Concrete Beach Stiltsville Miami-style Pilsner, while Long Beach, California–based ships offer Angel City Brewery IPA and cruises departing from New York City are stocked with Coney Island Mermaid Pilsner.

The line also offers beers brewed either locally in homeports or within the homeport state on ships sailing from New Orleans, Galveston, Baltimore and Tampa, as well as ships that sail to Alaska and Hawaii.