Spanish beers are all relatively cheap, and fast becoming trendy as the world adopts the ‘tapas’ habit.

FOR THE dedicated beer fan, Spain offers a wide variety of locally produced beers, lagers, pilsners and regional beers, most of which come in bottles, cans or draught and are served in cañas – small glasses – drawn from the  barrel.

In Madrid, there is also a tradition of serving a free tapa or shot of liqueur to “lessen the influence” of the beer!

As you hop from city to city, ask bartenders about regional beers as there are literally hundreds of them.

However, there are also a handful of well-established national Spanish beer brands.

San Miguel
When most people think of Spanish beer, they think of San Miguel. However, San Miguel was originally produced in the Philippines, albeit by Spanish settlers.

The San Miguel that is currently available here is purely Spanish though, having separated from the Asian brand a number of years ago, and now brewed in Barcelona and Burgos.

San Miguel is an excellent lager beer, with a crisp taste and very good bitter finish. It is refreshing and full of flavour, and is very much suited to Spain’s climate.

San Miguel now accounts for about 80% of Spanish lager exports, and has big name endorsers like Jet Li.

Spanish beers have clearly hit the big time when they appear as product placement in movies.

San Miguel’s Pale Pilsen featured in the Japanese animated movie 'Ghost in the Shell', when Bateau (one of the leading characters) drinks a can of it, faithfully redrawn to resemble the original.

Collectors take note – in the Philippines, Hong Kong, and Korea white label San Miguel is available, with white lettering painted on the bottles. These are being phased out so if you come across one, hang on to it.

Cruzcampo
Another particularly good Spanish lager beer is Cruzcampo, a beautifully refreshing beer, although perhaps lacking the flavour of San Miguel.

Zaragozana Ambar 1900
If you want to try something a little more obscure, then go for La Zaragozana Ambar 1900 Pale Ale.

Although not actually a Pale Ale or Ambar, this Spanish lager beer is more complex than most, with a slight hoppiness and a dry finish.

Brewed as a recreation of a beer that won gold medals in London and Paris at the turn of the 20th century, it is definitely worth checking out.

Alhambra & Mezquita
In south western Spain, Cervezas Alhambra thought it was a good idea to call their strong, 7.2% alcohol beer Mezquita (mosque), in homage to the neighbouring city of Córdoba, or so they say. But possibly its name is more of a slap in the face to the local teetotal Muslim community.

Alhambra, as you would imagine, are based in Granada, and their Mezquita is a bit spritzy with not much fruit taste, but it’s a good substitute for half the price of a Chimay or similar beer.

Fans of strong lager will like Alhambra’s 6.4% Reserva 1925, and their sweetish Cerveza Negra goes well with a roast dish. The Especial, a lighter style lager, tastes cleaner than your standard San Miguel or Estrella.

Mahou
In 2007, Mahou purchased the Granadan Alhambra Brewery (established in 1925), although previously Mahou had a brewery in Madrid.

Their family of beers consists of Classic Mahou, Mahou Five Stars, Laiker (without alcohol), Black Mahou and a Mixed Shandy, or ‘clara’. Classic Mahou is a lighter beer, with a taste reminiscent of the American Coors Light.

El Águila
Talking of Coors, The Coors Brewing Company purchased El Águila brewery in Zaragoza, in 1994 for $50 million, with plans to brew its Coors Extra Gold there for distribution in Spain.

It continued to brew El Águila products, Águila and Águila Master, until Coors decided to pull out of Spain in 2001.

Estrella Damm
Damm Bier is a non-alcoholic brand, not to be confused with Estrella Damm which at 5.4% alcohol is one of the stronger Spanish beers, and is brewed in Barcelona.

There is also an Estrella Galicia which is a lighter lager variation. By the way, the founder, August Kuentzmann Damm, moved to Barcelona from the Alsace at the end of the 19th century, and apparently he bore an extraordinary resemblance to Josef Stalin.

While Heineken is clearly not a Spanish brand there is now Heineken España Brewery, which was created in 1999 when they bought the five breweries of the Cruzcampo group from Diageo/ Guinness to add to the two El Águila breweries it already owned.

It was then forced to sell on its two duplicates (in Madrid and Valencia) to Damm.

Heineken now market its beers aggressively in Spain and most supermarkets stock bottled, canned and even large kegs bearing the familiar green and white logo.

Cruzcampo
Cruzcampo (Spanish for ‘Crossfield’) is considered to be the largest beer producer in Spain and Cruzcampo beer can be found anywhere in Spain, but it is in Andalucía where it is most consumed.

It has breweries in Sevilla, Madrid, Valencia, Jaén and Arano. The actual logo bears the figure of Gambrinus, who is the legendary creator of beer, since 1926, and appears as the jovial character in all their TV advertisements. Before it hit upon an animated character, Cruzcampo bottles sported the ‘cross in the field’ of its name.

What are they like?
Spanish beers tend to be pale lagers, which because of generous tax bands, are a touch stronger than many other European lagers.

Beers labelled cerveza clásica are the most basic pilsner type lagers, whereas cerveza especial is a beefier lager, like a German Export beer of about 5.5 %.

Cerveza negra is a dark, malty, lightly-hopped lager, roughly in the münchener style, and a cerveza extra is the one to watch out for, somewhere between an Oktoberfest and a pale Bock, and anything up to 6.4% alcohol by volume.

Consumer Habits
Founded in 1922, the Cerveceros de España (The Brewers of Spain) is the association that represents beer manufacturers in Spain.

Its partners include Heineken España, Mahou-San Miguel, Damm, Compañía Cervecera de Canarias, Hijos de Rivera and La Zaragozana, who produce almost all the beer in the territory.

A survey carried out by the association confirms that more people buy beer in bottles than in cans, and of the bottles, consumers now prefer recyclable returnable ones.

Moreover, the UK at the time consumed more than three times the beer that was consumed in Spain, and the bulk of this as draught beer in pubs.

In fact, only Ireland had a higher percentage of beer drunk in pubs than the UK. In Spain, the tendency is much more equally divided between drinking in bars and restaurants, and drinking at home.

You might not know that there is a Beer for Health Centre in Spain at www.cervezaysalud.com which is studying the effects of moderate consumption of beer, to see whether its positive outcomes in terms of relaxation, and its nutritional complement to foods can be weighed against its negative effects in society! Watch this space...

Mexican Import

THERE are also Mexican beers, which simply because they are labelled in Spanish and exported everywhere seem to go down well in Spain.

Corona, Sol and XX (pronounced ‘Does-Eck-Ees’) are all Mexican imports, and Corona Extra is the number-one selling beer in Mexico and the leading brand from Mexico.

This pilsner type beer was first brewed in 1925 by Cervecería Modelo, located in Mexico City.

The clear glass bottle of Corona allows it to sometimes get ‘light-struck’, a bad thing for beer as it tends to develop a ‘skunky’ odour and taste.

For some reason, the clearbottled Sol doesn’t seem to suffer from this problem.

In any case, the habit of squeezing a bit of lemon or lime into a Corona solves the problem, and many beer drinkers get into the habit of a squirt of lime juice in whichever brand they drink.

Home-brewing comeback

THE LATEST fashion in beers consists of preparing your own at home. This hobby has had a bad reputation, and for many the idea of making beer at home is uncool, but not only is it now possible, but also easy and the results are of much better quality.

Many of the new microbreweries in Spain that produce excellent beers, were previously home-brewers.

Micromalta, the Club of the Large Beers of the World has an option for those who want to devise their own beer.

This firm has created a catalogue for novices, with all the products, ingredients and materials necessary to produce 23 litres of beer.

It is an easy process, divided into three phases and explained in detail in the instructions that are included with the kit.

First the malt is heated, then left to chill, the yeast is added and it is left to ferment for a week. Then, it is transfered and bottled, and left to mature for three weeks, when it will then be ready to drink.

Beer lovers who have tested it confirm: “The smell of the malt while it cooks, the grape juice bubbling while it ferments, and bottling it with your own hands, and ...waiting impatiently until you can test the first sip of your own beer, is a very satisfactory experience. If it turns out well, of course!”

www.cervezasdelmundo.com