Costa Rica: Beer Trends in Costa Rica
Since 2010, Costa Rica has joined the craft beer trend with increased imports of craft and specialty beers as well as local microbreweries producing unique brands such as "Segua" and "Libertas". Several additional microbreweries started to appear over the following years, many of them guided by the experience of expat residents coming from the United States. Due to its geographic location, Costa Rica is not able to grow the raw materials for beer and depends heavily on imported raw materials. Around 2012 a few companies started to import and sell the required ingredients (such as malt, hops or yeast), the equipment and tools, and also started to teach in workshops how to brew beer. This has accelerated the creation of new breweries and helped to expand the market for craft beer.