After a day at the beach under the tropical sun, nothing can quite quench your thirst like an ice cold beer.

Perhaps, however, if that beer is hand-crafted, served up in a frosted pint glass in a chilly air conditioned pub, well, that might quench your thirst even more.

Look no further than the Tap Room in Cruz Bay, where two entrepreneurial college buds, who couldn’t find any brews to satisfy their hankering for hand-crafted ales, decided to whip up their own beer.

After graduating from the University of Vermont, Chirag Vyas and Kevin Chipman went their separate ways — Vyas to California to work for NASA and Chipman to Boston to toil as a physical therapist. After tiring of their day jobs and looking for a bit of adventure, they decided to give island life a try.

One rented sailboat and two low-end restaurant jobs later, Vyas and Chipman were living the life in paradise. After making their ways up to bartenders and apartment renters, the two were still craving something just out of reach — most notably the mico-brews they had enjoyed in hop-friendly Vermont during their dorm days.

The two did a little research and homework, and with a basic beer making kit in hand, started cranking out small batches of what would become St. John Brewers suds in their tiny apartment kitchen in 2001.

A few batches and a few years later, the two perfected a recipe for a unique light ale with a hint of mango extract on the nose. With encouragement from beer-consuming friends, who whole heartily enjoyed the quaff, Vyas and Chipman take the big plunge and make St. John Brewers into a business in 2004.

The two got Shipyard Brewery in Portland, Maine on board as a contract brewer and welcomed their first 1,300 cases to the island in June 2005. Self-distributing out of the back of their 1989 Toyota pickup truck, the need for a distributor became evident immediately. Vyas and Chipman wouldn’t have to worry about that too much.

The popularity of St. John Brewer’s first offering, Topical Mango Pale Ale, quickly set the burgeoning ale kings on the road to success.

Five years later, St. John Brewer’s offers Island Summer Ale, a half wheat and half pale ale brew, the Belgium ale inspired Liquid Sunshine, which sparkles with coriander and Curacao orange peel, and Island Hoppin’ IPA, a malty ale with a crisp hoppy aroma.

Their full line of beers are now available in New Jersey, California, Rhode Island, Florida, Massachusetts and Puerto Rico, in addition to the Virgin Islands.

The most recent offering in bottles is a minty root beer, that serves well on its own, but also delights when mixed with dark or spiced rum.

You can enjoy a beer at the comfortable Tap Room, which boasts air conditioning, free WiFi, friendly staff and several keg parties and other shindigs throughout the year.

The Tap Room is one of the few places on St. John to enjoy a draft beer and, in addition to the full slate of St. John Brewer’s ales, Vyas and Chipman offer other micro-brews that rotate monthly. Small batches of test beers and Vyas and Chipman’s spicy ginger beer and energy drink, Green Flash, are also on tap at the Tap Room.

So soak up the sun and enjoy the sand and then head to the Tap Room to cool down and quench that searing thirst.

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