spain

[evilredlight]

I am going to spain in march
does anyone know if there are any good breweries
near madrid
or will I have to drink wine the whole time?

[evilredlight]

I'm off to spain in 2 days
The only information I have Is of a brewery in Granada, In or near the Alhambra. That in itself is pretty neat.

I'll fill in some more info and post in the tasting section if I find something worthy !!

[chris_o]

I'm probably too late with this, but here goes. The two big Madrid breweries are Mahou and Aguila, which you will find everywhere in Madrid, together with San Miguel, Estrella and Cruzcampo (Spanish Heineken). Unfortunately, their beers are almost universally crap. Mahou Negra is marginally more interesting than the other offerings.

I believe there are 3 brewpubs in Madrid (although, regrettably none of them were around last time I was there). Two are listed here
http://www.softdoc.es/madrid_guide/entertainment/pubs.html#fabrica
The third is called Magister Fabrica de Cervezas. They have a website but its not too informative.
http://www.magistercerveceros.com/
I believe they are at Calle Principe 18

I'm sure you'll have a great time. Despite the dearth of good beer, Spain is one of my favourite countries to visit, especially if you get off the well-trodden tourist trail.

[evilredlight]

Thanks for the info
and yes i did notice that they are all universally crap
and served in tiny glasses
which is really ok because they are crap anyway

with the exception of Alhambra lager brewed in Grenada
comes on tap, in cans, and in a 1 litro bottle, and sin (no) alcohol.
It is quite delicious almost a honey nose, It is sold everywhere in the south but I didn't see it at all in the north!
It was a welcome surprise after so much Mahou and Cruzcampo

and a brewpub i found in the old train station of Sevilla
They served a pale (qite a bit like the crap served elsewhere)
and a negro
I had the negro and it was very good, sweet and smooth.
very malty and not too bitter.

[tonytorero]

Hello all. (¡Saludos desde Madrid! :cool: ) First time poster...As I'm discovering this Board, I've naturally stumbled on this section and thought it seemed a good place to introduce myself.

I'm an American living in Spain. Been here for 6 years and love it. The only challenge, difficulty for me is that I enjoy home brewing and have it pretty rough here as it's hard to come across the stuff I need to make my brews. I'm studying it. Hence my stumbling across this domain. I have a couple of comments to what's been written previously... Here goes.

Originally posted by chris_o
The two big Madrid breweries are Mahou and Aguila, which you will find everywhere in Madrid, together with San Miguel, Estrella and Cruzcampo (Spanish Heineken). Unfortunately, their beers are almost universally crap. Mahou Negra is marginally more interesting than the other offerings.
Well done, Chris. You know your Spanish beers! There are a few other smaller, regional beers, but your general assessment is correct, Spanish national beers leave much to be desired in terms of quality. Spain's still much more of a wine drinking country in its present state...

Originally posted by chris_o
I believe there are 3 brewpubs in Madrid (although, regrettably none of them were around last time I was there). Two are listed here
http://www.softdoc.es/madrid_guide/...bs.html#fabrica
The third is called Magister Fabrica de Cervezas. They have a website but its not too informative.
http://www.magistercerveceros.com/
I believe they are at Calle Principe 18
There are actually a TON more, but they aren't always in the more touristy regions of Madrid and are often run by Irish & German expats. The quality at these types of places tends to be above par generally speaking. One of my favorite web sites to find restaurants and brewpub type places is La Netro (http://madrid.lanetro.com). I'm afraid it's only available in Spanish though. It's worth it if you can find a way to understand as its database is superior to what you'll find in a lot of touristy web sites on Spain in English. Searching for 'Cervecerias' will return a lot of results. Also, you have to keep in mind that Spain is a 'Tapas & Pinchos' culture where you order a small beer called a 'caña' typically and a small aperetif and repeat this process 3-5 times until you're full.

That's my two....(or three) cents on the matter at least.

[Theakston]

Welcome to the board Tony. Thanks for the info.

I love the tapas way of eating / drinking. It is becoming more popular over here too (especially in our area - Washington DC).

[Chubber]

I lived in Spain for 3 years, in the south, and beer is drunk in cañas because that is about the most that you can drink before it goes warm. When it is 100 degrees outside and you are sitting at a table in a beach side cafe the last thing you want is some heavy, big beer. The grease from the deep fried calamaris will interfere with the head, so they don't have much head.

Aguilla is pretty good for a nice hot day with fried food.