Factoria

Address: Plaza Vieja, Havana Vieja, Havana, Cuba
Door: Open door
Style: Beer bar
Food: Set menu

Review

Taking up a large corner site of Plaza Vieja, which is perhaps the most spruced-up part of town, Factoria is a beer-oriented venue that brews its own. Shiny vats rise up behind the bar and you can see inside the brewery from windows in the street that runs off the square.

Uniformed waiters stand by the large outdoor seating area, which is made up of old, cast-iron garden furniture, while live bands entertain a mixed Cuban and tourist clientele and the odd stray dog. One light brew and two darker variants are available (our lack of Spanish made it hard to delve deeper into exactly what we were drinking), and you can also order Micheladas, beer with tomato juice or even a Mojito-like rum, citrus, sugar and beer combination called Habana Viena. An innovative - though hardly refined - Cuban serve is a large column of beer, either three or five litres for juns CUC$12 or CUC$20, which is placed in the middle of the table allowing drinkers to serve themselves in dimpled jugs. There's a full menu too.