# Dominica

Country page of DA Caps, a collection of beer bottle caps. Web page: https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country/dm/info

- Official name: Commonwealth of Dominica
- Caps in the collection: 1 (https://dacaps.imcoll.info/country_caps/167)
- Brands: 1

## Beer in Dominica

Dominica is named for the Sunday, 3 November 1493, on which Columbus sighted it; its Kalinago name, Wai'tu kubuli, means "Tall is her body". French settlers came from 1690 and France formally ran the island from 1727; Britain took it by the Treaty of Paris of 1763, apart from a French interlude in 1778-83. It stayed British until independence on 3 November 1978. The sources found record no brewing in those centuries, and beer came in bottles: Banks of Barbados began to export in 1968, and Saint Vincent and Dominica were its first two markets. The Brookston Beer Bulletin (2012) gives beer 6% of the alcohol drunk there and spirits 83%.

The one brewery is Dominica Brewery & Beverages Ltd. The Dominican site DOM767 dates the company to 13 January 1993 and puts it at Snug Corner, Loubiere, just south of Roseau; Brauwelt, quoted by inside.beer in 2018, says the brewery was established in 1995. A beer blog credits the German consultancy Brauhaase with Kubuli, as with Wadadli in Antigua and Hairoun in Saint Vincent; no second source says so. Kubuli is a pale lager of about 5% ABV, named for Wai'tu kubuli and brewed with spring water from Loubiere beside the plant. The company also bottled Loubiere water and soft drinks and made Guinness and Vita Malt under licence; at its height it made over 21,000 hl of beer and 20,000 hl of water a year. In April 2013 it had 70 full-time staff and exported to the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua, St Kitts, Montserrat, Martinique, Guadeloupe, St Lucia and Barbados; that month Brydens began to sell Kubuli in St Lucia. Wikipedia reports a Monde Selection gold medal (dated 2002) and a 68% share of the local beer market in 2018.

The owners changed often. In 2006 the Danish brewer Royal Unibrew bought its stake in Dominica Brewery together with the Antigua brewery. In August 2009 it agreed to sell its Caribbean holdings, among them 58% of Dominica Brewery & Beverages, to Cerveceria Nacional Dominicana (CND) of the Dominican Republic for US$31 million, and CND's subsidiary International Brewing Limited had completed the purchase by March 2010. In 2012 CND passed to Ambev, the Brazilian arm of AB InBev.

On 18 September 2017 Hurricane Maria struck the island and badly damaged the Snug Corner factory. In February 2018 Brauwelt reported that the brewery's future was uncertain and officials declined to comment. On 1 August 2018 the company said it could not run its brewery and water line and that brewery staff would leave, with the benefits due under Dominican labour law, job relocation and an entrepreneurship programme; it promised to stay in the country in the long run. No source found says where Kubuli has been brewed since, or whether brewing restarted at Snug Corner.

Kubuli is still listed as active on BeerAdvocate (last rated 26 September 2026). Ambev's accounts for the second quarter of 2025 say that on 26 December 2024 CND agreed to transfer its shares in SLU Beverages to KOSCAB, the Coca-Cola bottler. SLU is the majority shareholder of Banks Holdings in Barbados, Saint Vincent Brewery, Antigua Brewery and Dominica Brewery & Beverages. The first two tranches closed on 31 July 2025, when CND transferred 61.83% of its interest; the price is at least US$186 million, paid in up to five tranches until 2028, and KOSCAB named Kubuli among the brands it wants to grow. Dominica Brewery & Beverages is the only brewery in the country: BeerAdvocate lists one, and no craft brewery or microbrewery turned up.

Sources:
- [Wikipedia: Kubuli](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kubuli)
- [Wikipedia: Beer in the Caribbean](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_in_the_Caribbean)
- [Wikipedia: History of Dominica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Dominica)
- [Wikipedia: Banks Barbados Brewery](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banks_Barbados_Brewery)
- [DOM767 Dompedia: Dominica Brewery & Beverages Ltd. (DBBL) (2025)](https://www.dom767.com/dompedia/dominica-brewery-beverages-ltd-dbbl/)
- [inside.beer: Future of hurricane smashed Dominica Brewery uncertain (2018)](https://www.inside.beer/news/detail/dominica-future-of-hurrican-smashed-dominica-brewery-uncertain)
- [Dominica News Online: Dominica Brewery & Beverages makes adjustments to business model after Maria (2018)](https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/general/dominica-brewery-beverages-makes-adjustments-to-business-model-after-maria/)
- [Dominica News Online: Kubuli Beer hits St. Lucian market (2013)](https://dominicanewsonline.com/news/homepage/news/business/kubuli-beer-hits-st-lucian-market/)
- [Searchlight: St Vincent Brewery under new control (2009)](https://searchlight.vc/news/2009/08/14/st-vincent-brewery-under-new-control)
- [Searchlight: St. Vincent Brewery joins IBL (2010)](https://www.searchlight.vc/news/2010/03/05/st-vincent-brewery-joins-ibl)
- [Ambev: Form 6-K, interim financial statements Q2 2025 (SLU, KOSCAB)](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1565025/000129281425002857/abevitr2q25_6k.htm)
- [NVEST Estates: Coca-Cola's KOSCAB acquires Banks Holdings Limited (2025)](https://nvestestates.com/?p=80249)
- [Uncommon Caribbean: Hairoun Lager, St. Vincent's Blessedly Good Beer](https://www.uncommoncaribbean.com/?p=18534)
- [Uncommon Caribbean: Kubuli Beer, the Pride of Dominica (2019)](https://www.uncommoncaribbean.com/dominica/kubuli-beer/)
- [Brookston Beer Bulletin: Dominica Beer (2012)](https://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/dominica-beer/)
- [BeerAdvocate: Dominica Brewery and Beverages Ltd.](https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/2539/)
- [Archontology: Dominica, Polity Style 1967-2026](https://archontology.org/nations/dominica/01_polity.php)
- [Wikipedia: Flag of Dominica](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Dominica)
- [Wikimedia Commons: Flag of Dominica (1965-1978)](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Flag_of_Dominica_(1965%E2%80%931978).svg)

## Breweries (1)

- [Dominica Brewery and Beverages](https://dacaps.imcoll.info/brewery/3588.md) — 1 cap, 1993–