Dominican Beer and sleeping pills: Ozzie Guillen's cure for recovering from a beating

The Marlins and manager Ozzie Guillen got beat down 15-5 on Wednesday by the Boston Red Sox.  The Marlins have had a pretty average year after some big signings this off-season, including the signing of Guillen.  It is a wonder that they are hovering around .500 when they are in the bottom third of MLB in most team statistics.

It has been a tough year for Guillen.  Guillen gave The Palm Beach Post his cure for recovering from such a beating:

"Seven Presidentes and a sleeping pill and be ready for the job tomorrow."

Presidente is THE BEER in the Dominican Republic.  Interesting that Guillen chooses a Dominican beer, being that he is Venezuelan.  I do not have statistics, and honestly I doubt they exist for Dominican beer, but I would estimate that Presidente has at least 70% of the market share on beer in the Dominican Republic.

Presidente is ubiquitous in the Dominican Republic to say the least.  Every single colmado or grocery store that sells Dominican beer has Presidente.  Really the only imports you will see at a standard convenience store in the Dominican Republic are Corona (Mexican) and Brahma (Brazilian).  Even Bud Light is hard to find.

Most countries have one or two flagship brews.  Think Bud Light in the States or Heineken in the Netherlands.  Presidente is that flagship brew when it comes to Dominican beer.  Dominicans will tell you that Presidente is the best beer on earth.  But that has to be just a tendency towards nationalism, because Presidente is virtually indistinguishable from Bud Light, or any other light lager.  

Presidente is owned by the Cervecería Nacional Dominicana and the Dominican beer is produced at their breweries in the Dominican Republic.  However, AmBev which is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev bought a controlling stake in the company in 2012.  So, basically Budweiser is making the Dominican Republic's most prized beer.

With these two caveats mentioned, it is a dam good beer when cold and it is still technically made in the Dominican Republic, even if the imperialist Americans, Budweiser, now own the company.  So, the Dominican Baseball Guy will continue to down as much Presidente as possible, especially when watching Dominican baseball games.

THE DOMINICAN BEER, Presidente, photo by Erik Cleves Kristensen on Flickr