Friday’s Featured Food: Bacon Cheeseburger, Chips And Craft Beer At The Beer Barrel, Namibia🇳🇦

Sometimes when I travel I just really crave some craft beer, a cheeseburger and some live football on television, or just a chilled out pub to relax in. I didn’t really expect Namibia to delight me in gastronomic terms but it did in many ways. I was pleasantly surprised, from a delicious seafood platter in Walvis Bay, to a champagne breakfast at Sandwich Harbour to the zebra steak at Joe’s Beerhouse in Windhoek, the capital city. Who’d have thunk Namibia to be a gastronomic dream with 4 appearances on Friday’s Featured Food?

Friday’s Featured Food: Cheeseburger, Chips And Craft Beer At The Beer Barrel, Namibia🇳🇦

I stayed in a few different places while backpacking in Namibia, this includes the textbook Chameleon Backpacker’s Hostel in Windhoek, Cleverly Apartments in Walvis Bay and Vineyard Country Lodge in the countryside. When I checked into the Vineyard Country Lodge, I knew it was in remote countryside on the edge of the capital city (east of Windhoek) – the point of my stay here was to relax in wilderness as well as being closer to the international airport, which is literally in the desert!

Beer Barrel Brewery in Namibia from Airport

What I didn’t expect during my stay at the Vineyard Country Lodge was that I would actually leave the lodge! I had everything at the lodge – a cosy room, free Wi-Fi, a swimming pool and a bar and restaurant!

My Charming Stay in Namibian Countryside: Relaxation at Vineyard Country Lodge

Namibia: Vineyard Country Lodge

My room at Vineyard Country Lodge in Namibian countryside

Then, a quick Google Maps search revealed there is a Craft Beer Bar within walking distance! It was just over a mile of a walk, so late afternoon off I went for some beers and dinner…

Beer Barrel Brewery is just over a mile walking from Vineyard Country Lodge

The Beer Barrel Brewery is connected to a hotel complex called Das Bruckenhaus, and therefore a German influence is here with the Hansa Brewery in Germany being pivotal in the set up of this bar. After a short pleasant countryside walk (mosquitos are rife so go insect repellent loyal!), I arrived at the entrance to the hotel and brewery.

Entrance to The Beer Barrel Brewery near Windhoek, Namibia

Once inside, I checked out the cool pool area and bar, with the main Beer Barrel bar inside. There is also a playground and plenty of places to relax here, for families and adults.

Beer garden and complex by the Beer Barrel Brewery

Playground and complex by the Beer Barrel Brewery

Beer garden, swimming pool and complex by the Beer Barrel Brewery

The Beer Barrel Brewery

When I was there (February 2020), these are the opening and closing hours below.

The Beer Barrel Brewery

Next it was time to check out the bar itself and the menu.

The menu at the Beer Barrel Brewery in Namibia

As you can see below, the choice of beer is huge here and this was a big surprise. I have backpacked in Africa on 15 separate trips and you rarely find a bar with decent craft beer, let alone a choice of more than 5 types of beer. This made it hard to decide what beer to choose!

The menu at the Beer Barrel Brewery in Namibia

Foodwise, you are also spoilt for choice and I felt that the “BIG BOY steak” and the “1kg might beef burger challenge” were far too huge for me – with a small stomach there was no way I could even attempt to eat either, so I went for the simple Beer Barrel bacon cheeseburger, for 110 Namibian Dollars, about £4.50 in Northern Irish pounds, or just under 6 US Dollars.

The menu at the Beer Barrel Brewery in Namibia

With food order, it was time to check the beer options and again, I was spoilt for choice and opted for tap beer. They have 12 taps and on my visit they were cleaning and changing some of them but still had a few beers on tap. I went for the Hansa draught lager first just to start me off. It was $50 Namibian Dollars, so about £2 (or under $3 US Dollars).

Friday’s Featured Food: Cheeseburger, Chips And Craft Beer At The Beer Barrel, Namibia

The day I visited they actually showed live rugby instead of football! I did ask for the football and they had it on another channel but some guys from Australia were watching the rugby so we stuck with that.

Friday’s Featured Food: Cheeseburger, Chips And Craft Beer At The Beer Barrel, Namibia

My second beer was an IPA ale, same price as the first one and it came in a different type of glass.

Friday’s Featured Food: Cheeseburger, Chips And Craft Beer At The Beer Barrel, Namibia

Here are some photos of the food which arrived soon after and was a very tasty bacon cheeseburger and chips! You can see my anti-mosquito spray in the photos too!

Friday’s Featured Food: Cheeseburger, Chips And Craft Beer At The Beer Barrel, Namibia

The bar here was great and the selection of beers was superb for any African adventure, the toilets also had beer kegs in them.

Toilets At The Beer Barrel, Namibia🇳🇦

Sink At The Beer Barrel, Namibia🇳🇦

Rugby on TV

Alas time is short on these trips so I only had those two beers and headed back to my lodge to relax for the evening, do some blogging and plan my cheetah adventure to Duesternbrook as wel as to organise getting back to the airport for my flight out. I actually passed through two airports in Namibia a few times on this trip. Believe it or not but I was at Namibia’s main international airport 5 times on this trip, and Walvis Bay airport 3 times!! The Cheetah farm, the salt flats and pink lakes and sand dunes tours were all incredible.