www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Are there any "Liquor Stores" in town where I can find a good selection of fine Rums. Not talking about your basic Flor de Cana which I know you find at Mas o Menos but I'm looking for some of the more expensive more premier Rums. I was at Multiplaza yesterday and checked out the nice grocery store and they had for example Ron Zacapa 23 years priced at 28,000 colones which is well over $50 and I can buy the exact same Rum in the States for $40 so no deal there but I wasn't sure whether that market at Multiplaza is just generally overpriced. Any info appreciated. Thx.

The duty free downstairs at the airport has a large selection with the absolute best prices you will find! Not much of a rum guy, the Habana or Havana is decent though.

Tax on alcohol in costa rica is relatively high, your best bet is the duty free stores in the airport, (both in arrival and departure areas). The different stores will have different selections at times.

If you are looking for wider rum varieties, both automercado, and then the supermarket in escazu that is opposite the shopping center where big dogs sports bar is seem to have the widest variety of rums.

Note that there are 20+ versions of flor de cana available which are considerably finer than the normal 4/6/10 year versions, and there is also the 100 usd version of Ron Zacapa which i love, and i would say is the best rum i have ever had.

There are a couple of other threads on rums, but I don't recall if they mentioned the best places to buy them in Costa Rica.

Flor de Caña comes in 3, 5, 7, 12, 18 and 21 year old versions as far as I know. I assume that the best prices for this are in the duty free. Well, like Bang Bang wrote in another thread, it appears that they are cheapest in their country of origin. I remember Phoenix Rising saying that the FdC 7 is the best value in terms of price for quality. I don't know what they would cost here in the States nowadays.

What is the $100 rum?

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"All them women gonna make me,
teach 'em what they don't know how..." TMIB

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If you let the devil ride, he's gonna want to drive

Speaking of rum, does anyone know off hand how much liquor you can bring into CR for a 10 night stay? I was planning on bring down some Newfie Screech for a friend when I come down next month but I forgot what the limits were.

It seems indeed that its the tax and duty issue that is why the finer rums (mostly from Guatemala) are more expensive here than in the States. Even the Duty Free shop is no deal. I'm here right now (at the airport) and say that my favorite, Ron Zacapa 23 years, is $48 here at Duty Free and I can buy it at BevMo in the States for $38 or $39. I think the only bargain here might be Centenarrio but that is to Rum what Andre's is to Champagne, not very good stuff.

Here's a good summation of the topic especially Brother Irish Drifter's post on sales outlets:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23184&p=231849

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"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

Just a correction...the Flor de Cana '21' is actually 15 years old. It was a limited issue as a 'celebration' of the 21st century. Ron Zacapa XO (an amalgam of rums up to 25 years old) is $92 at the SJO airport. I just got my hands on a bottle of Pyrat 'Cask 1623' (40 years old, $230). I haven't sampled it yet...one of these days. Hey, you only live once!

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"In a nation ruled by swine, all pigs are upwardly mobile, and the rest of us are phucked until we can put our acts together; not necessarily to win, but mainly to keep from losing completely"...Hunter S. Thompson (RIP)

You are allowed 2 liters of alcohol and 1 carton of cigarettes through customs coming back to the States.
I tried to bring back 6 cartons of cigarettes in May 2010 and they made get in a special line and pay $10 dollars tax on 5 of the $17 cartons, still cheaper then the States. Seems the only exception was from the Virgin Islands which allowed you to bring back a greater amount

That's the American Virgins, not BVI--because you are coming from an American Territory. Same applies to American Samoa.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

I am thinking if it is imported it will be lots more
Nica rum is a good price I think but for CR most other items as well are more compared to North America.

Generally, the prices are cheaper at the duty-free shops at the airport. There is a liquor store in the Coca Cola area that Harry Hart at Bar Poas told me is the cheapest with a good selection, but I don't remember the name. It was north of Avenida 5 I believe.

Here's the Website of Harry's Bar Poas:
http://www.barpoas.com/

or drop in and see him--directly across from the Hotel Santo Tomas--he's there most days. And, hey--he is a CRT Sponsor--ask for the discount. Oh, and hey--they have Tona the Nicaraguan beer. Good food, cheap * cold beer and the chance to mingle with such as the Pangaea AND the Morazan "Perpetual Tourist Hangin' in on the Cheap" crowds--what's not to like?

* cheap during his weekday Happy Hours--not bad prices other times--and the food is good and filling.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

the phuckin transvestites that hang out there, that's what's not to like!

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"cuz I'm a back-door man" Jim Morrison-1969