Jamaican Pub Crawl

Recently we took MySideOfTheBar on the road to the beautiful island country of Jamaica. Central Patti and I set aside one day to do a Jamaican Pub Crawl to some of the local (and semi-local) pubs. I thought you may enjoy a recap of the day.

The first stop on the crawl was a beach bar that was semi-local. What I mean by that is that it was on the beach and kind of in a tourist area, however outside of our small group, it looked to be only locals in attendance.

Bourbon Beach


I made two observances here at Bourbon Beach; 1 was they did not have bourbon ;) and the other was while you immediately smelled marijuana when entering you saw this sign at the beach bar.

  
This was the only stop on the crawl that you received Jamaican currency back in change, however if you planned correctly you could simply give your change back for a tip. I enjoyed a couple of Gin and Tonics and Central Patti sipped on a Vodka Tonic.

Bourbon Beach was a great place and despite no Bourbon it was on the beach ;)


The next stop I will let you see the name for yourself, because you would not believe me if I told you.



You read right, the Palm Court Sports Bar and Jerk Centre. You could have drive up Jerk (insert jokes here) The prices here were unbelievably cheap. Central Patti is pictured with one of you new friends and her husband bought a round of Red Stripe beer, 12 for 28$ U.S. The pool table is all I remember that had to do with sports, but the bar tender was very friendly and courteous. 



Next it was on to Xtabi on the Cliff. While this was not solely a local bar, it was off the beaten path and visited by a lot of the locals with a little more $$. 


They had some interesting art work in the garden area and


walk down and dive right into the ocean. And you could enjoy a cigar with a view.



The next stop is perhaps one of the most unique bars/restaurants I have ever been in. Just Natural Seafood and Bar is in the middle of a jungle 



and if you click the link above you can see a great video tour. We walked through the entire "establishment". Don't miss the fact that they grow a lot of the ingredients used to prepare your meals right off the path you walk on between tables.



Our last stop was my favorite, The Red Dragon. 


Two of us had them serve us an order of the Jerk Pork for lunch and the cost was only 10$ for an order that could feed many more people than we had with us. I handed the bartender a 20 and she gives me back a 10. Again, the concept of tipping in Jamaica seems to be very foreign. I had a couple of ones so I took care of her.

While I was ordering food Central Patti went to get us both a Vodka Tonic, she came back laughing as the two drinks came to three dollars american. We truly were in a local bar. The was a place next door for rent and I was tempted into moving as even on my small pension I could live here with no issues!



All in all it was one of the most unique and best pub crawls I have ever been on. One great day in paradise.

Cheers
The Professor

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