Beer prices and Cost of Living

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Originally Posted by johng

JohnNYC,
Nice trip report and glad you had a great trip. I agree with you 100% the wages that Jamaicans are paid is very sad. I used the "Red Stripe Comparison" only as a context. So If a Jamaican worker earns $50 USD in a week he could buy 10 Red Stripes at Tony's. 10 beers for 40 hours of work often times hard labor of some sort. Yes I'm sure that there are instances in the world where is is even worse but Jamaica is where we, who post on this board, Love!!!

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Johng,

I can say confidentiality that no Jamaican earning minimum wage will purchase a beer for us$5. That is why I stated that Tony was no longer interested in the local business and will focus on his tourism business.

Being in my position, I have to visit tourism establishments often and I never see other locals at these establishments without a tourist host. The locals simply can't afford it. Even a j$500 Red Stripe is tough to swallow (pun intended).

Drifters has a unique deal. They have the regular 341ml stubby bottle Red Stripe for j$500. But they offer the weird "tall" 250ml bottle for j$250. That makes it possible for some locals to actually buy their own beer at Drifters and enjoy it for themselves.

One of the reasons Red Dragon is so popular is that locals and tourists can mix in the same establishment and our visitors get to mix with Jamaicans on an equal footing.

The us$5 places will make their money but I think an essential feature of Negril may be lost without the local perspective (other than the bartender).

But there are PLENTY local bars to visit not on the beach.

The days of cheap drinks on the beach are pretty much gone in Negril unless you're bringing your own cooler down each day which is why I like NBCC as many do that there. Mixed drinks seem to be worse than beer. From what I saw it was pretty much $1,000-1,500 JMD for a single shot mixed drink in a tiny cup at most places on the beach in June. I don't mind paying that for a solid stiff drink but not for something I down in two gulps. I tend to agree with Rob on going to bars off the beach. Plenty downtown, in Red Ground, Sheffield, and in the west end generally across the street from the ocean rather than on it where there is a good mix of seasoned tourists or ex-pats with locals with reasonable prices. The bar restaurant at Winners Plaza downtown is one I like that has great a/c and pretty good local food. They sell Q's too that in my opinion give you the best bang for your buck. I plan on making Rocky's a regular stop from now on when I'm downtown too after meeting Rob there a couple of months ago.

Tried to check out Rocky's but they were closed. It was Sunday, so he was either that or it was too early. We were very disappointed and didn't get a chance to try again.

Rockies is closed on Sundays.

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Originally Posted by Corey K

The days of cheap drinks on the beach are pretty much gone in Negril unless you're bringing your own cooler down each day which is why I like NBCC as many do that there. Mixed drinks seem to be worse than beer. From what I saw it was pretty much $1,000-1,500 JMD for a single shot mixed drink in a tiny cup at most places on the beach in June. I don't mind paying that for a solid stiff drink but not for something I down in two gulps.

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Alot of patrons at White Sands also bring down coolers of Stripes during the beach day (my solution is my giant bubba cup filled with ice, rum and cokes which I keep refilled from my beach bag and ice refills from tips at the bar). I don't start buying drinks til happy hour. This helps me keep the budget reasonable.

As reasonable as stripes were at Idle, we too had a cooler for the balcony & beach. We made sure to take care of the staff during meals & smoothie breaks.

Sunnyside is still charging fair prices, us$3.50 a Red Stripe or j$400.

The sunset is coming, time to find out what my friends are doing....