Men can be incredibly singular-minded and focused, especially when it comes to beer. Frankly, I fear most of our history books are dead-wrong about which gender has accomplished what given their often singular focus.

SIDEBAR: To the breweries of the world: stop wasting your precious advertising dollars on ad agencies. Trust me on this. Go to your local printer for a one-color, one-sided imprint on poster-size paper. Print the name of your product - no photo necessary - with the word, “BEER” in big, bold letters and you will have as effective an ad campaign as you would had you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars with that hot advertising chick at the ad agency.

But I digress. Back to singular-minded and incredibly focused…

So there we were, yesterday, Bob and I sitting in the lobby of the Comfort Suites on Seven Mile Beach in Grand Cayman. Remember from yesterday’s missive, we were sitting with Helen, Keep of the Cup (THE Rugby World Cup). And a slew of rugby players. (Ladies, I’m surrounded by them and the testosterone in the hotel is palpable).

I Want Some of That
Bob was thumbing through one of the local tourist mags when, lo and behold, an ad for Cayman Island Beer caught his eye (it only takes one eye where men and beer are concerned). “I want some of that,” he says. “Of course you do, dear.” Then, our new-found friend Helen offers that it is actually quite good.

And that was it.

We were off on a beer adventure, passing numerous shopping opportunities (which I’m not into anyway) and blue-water opportunities (like beaching, boating, fishing, snorkeling - which I AM into) just to find The Cayman Island Brewery (and to taste The Beer).

A Beer Adventure
Located on the Southeast end of Grand Cayman, it’s a bit of a trick to find the brewery if you aren’t a local. A new bypass is going in, so, from Georgetown, go straight when you pass the Esso station but stay in the left lane.

The Cayman Island Brewery is 2 minutes from that Esso station ifyou stay on the left. Otherwise you’ll end up in Savannah contemplating a property purchase on the South end (given the plethora of “For Sale” signs).

We walked in and were greeted with a smile by Andreas Moerl, the Brewmaster from Germany. A tall, outgoing guy, he loves his beer (and rightly so).

Andreas offered a sample of his Caybeer to Bob who, in keeping with his manly focus, enthusiastically accepted.

About the Brewery
The Cayman Island Brewery has been open one year and Caybrew is their only product at this writing. Andreas describes his brew as a Europoean Style 5% Lager. Bob simply said, “Umm! This is good.” I found the beer crisp and very refreshing. Delicious, even and I am not much for beer.

A person can learn alot talking to the brewmaster. For example, all of the brewery equipment was brought from Germany and is fully automated. Delivered in fifteen 40′ containers, it took a crew of 6 people four months to assemble everything.

Prior to brewing, the water used in the process is treated to a flow through a Reverse Osmosis unit. Three and one-half weeks later, we have beer, bottled, canned or kegged and ready to drink.

Green Beer
Of particular note is the Green Effort being made by the brewery. Of note, they buy back their bottles (currently $2 US per case). While they do accept their cans back, they do not pay for the return of cans. Andreas tells us that the island has no recycling facility, so cans get shipped out for recycling.

Another notable Green Effort: spent grains are given to local farmers to feed their farms - as fertilizer for plants or food for cows and pigs. Finally, all wastewater is recycled into “bathtub” quality water and used for irrigation.

Where To Get Caybeer
At this time, Caybeer is only available on Grand Cayman. You can find it at The Cayman Island Brewery, Royal Palms, The Hard Rock Cafe and Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville. They don’t have a website at this time (if they do, it’s well-hidden. The URL I was given is dead and variations on the name only produce one page with Google ads).

Grand Cayman visitors: Make the trip to the Brewery. Andreas will bend your ear and serve you beer - and good beer at that!

We walked out with a case of cans to hold over The Man of The House until our next visit to Grand Cayman. Sure hope another trip pops up soon…

An absolutely beautiful morning down here in the Cayman Islands. I lurk a bit at Frank Schilling’s Domain Blog whose name and header image are right out of Grand Cayman.  Being a blue water fanatic, as well as a web and domain wench, I was very excited to fly here.  (By the way, Frank, I’ve posted a comment on your blog but given the natural beauty here, I can understand why you haven’t responded!  ;)  )

All photos taken with my Blackberry Curve (because my Canon was not on my checklist and I forgot it!)

Seven Mile Beach
This is Seven Mile Beach in the morning, around 8:30 am.

We arrived yesterday evening after a smooth flight. Island Air is an incredibly organized and efficient FBO. They had our General Decs filled out as well as our Customs and Immigration forms; I’ve never had that happen before. Hello…? Anyone in The Bahamas listening?

Yours truly on Seven Mile Beach, before coffee!

The Beach Club on Seven Mile Beach.  I loved that shade of blue, with the white french doors and the overhanging bougainvilla.  We didn’t stay there, though.  We stayed at the Comfort Suites which proved to be very convenient as we could rent a car across the street!

Disney and the Environment
This is Josh, videographer extraordinaire from CDB Productions. He’s on his way to a video shoot with Disney. They’re here because one of the local school’s fifth grade class won an environmental science project competition sponsored by Disney.

How cool is that?!

Ah, the People You Meet
So, here we are… sitting in the lobby of the Comfort Suites, chatting amicably with Helen, who appears to be guarding an innocuous black case with her life. Thumbing through a magazine, Bob sees an ad for Cay Brew, made right here in the Cayman Islands, and gleefully exclaims, “I’d like to try that.” (of course) Helen offers that it is pretty darn good.

But I want to know, what’s in the case?

Time passes. Words flit back and forth. Bodily functions call. “Go ahead,” I say, “I’ll watch the case.”

“Alright. Watch him show up when I’m gone,” Helen says.

“You’re waiting for someone to pick up the case? What does he look like? By the way, what’s in it?” I query. (If we ever meet, just know that I am intensely curious about just about everything and more often than not, my mouth opens just wide enough to insert my foot, sometimes both of them. I don’t mean this, really, so please forgive me in advance.)

“It’s a cup,” she quips.

“A cup?” (A cup in a hard black case?)

“Yep. The Rugby World Cup.”

“WHAT?!?” So here it is. I give you THE Web Ellis Cup as held by Bob, The Man of The House, and Helen (Keeper of The Cup).

I, of course, am waiting for New Zealand to claim it again.

I’m off to find a good cup of joe…

If you’ve never had a sense of balance and pleasure viewing a G-rated website, you haven’t been here… Incredible!

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Yesterday I had the good fortune of stumbling across a beautiful website, filled with a perfect balance of color, function and creativity.   I couldn’t stop myself from staring at the site!  But before I went off on a tangent and Dugg it, Del.icio.us-ed it and told the world, I did what I usually do:  I slept on it.

Well, I woke up this morning thinking, I’m putting that site on my Firefox tabs - just so I can have the visual pleasure of seeing it each morning when I start my work.

Nick La is a Toronto based illustrator and web designer.  And this is his site.   Along with the incredible layout, he offers design tutorials, icons and templates.  Go get stimulated and let me know what you feel and think!