Beer in Andalusia/Toledo

Hi Jules,

I am like you, loved learning about Spanish wines before we went to Spain last year. We also had a chance to try the wine with lemon-lime soda and it is refreshing and delicious. It is called Tinto de Verano (summer wine) and in Spain, they usually use Lemon Fanta.

On the beer front, not an expert, but our friend recommended that we try CruzCampo, the best selling beer in Spain. They make several types of beer from a Pilsner style to a malty premium Grand Reserva. Here is a link to the beers of Andalusia: http://www.andalucia.com/gastronomy/beer.htm.

Last but not least are Gin & Tonics. Last year, it was the in thing. Here is a great link on the trend. Try the Spanish Gin for a bit of local flavor. https://www.tripsavvy.com/the-perfect-spanish-gin-and-tonic-3987701.

Have a great trip,
Sandy

Unfortunately Spain is not great for those who like their beers with a bit more interest. The most popular beers are the pilsner lager types, Cruzcampo, Estrella Dam and San Miguel being the one's you find in most bars. There is a craft beer movement happening but this is still quite small, I happened upon a restaurant in Benahavis that sold an American style IPA brewed in Malaga, it was very good and a nice change from the usual blandness of Spanish beer.

In the supermarkets you'll find a larger range particularly those near tourist resorts which will offer a range of German, Irish and British beers, dunkels, stouts etc and also a wider range of dark Spanish beers.

I don't like Cruzcampo, it tastes like cardboard and their darker, maltier one isn't that much better. Alhambra is ok and their Reserva beer is quite nice.

All that aside, the first cold beer on a hot day is heavenly whatever it is.

I agree with @JC on 3 of his 4 points.

In most supermarkets there is a good selections of beers, nor do I like Cruzcampo, and yes the first cold one on a hot day is different from the rest.

On his first point, I only can say that the craft beer movement is very strong at least here in the north of Spain. What the situation is like in Andalusia I can't say. Don't know if we don't get their beers up here or there are no beers to get up here.

As for sangria and 7-up, can't say, but a kalimotxo 50/50 Coca-cola and red wine.

Gosh!... not even going to bother answering that Jules, LOL! Whoever told you that doesn't know squat about sangria.

Sangria can be prepared in a dozen different ways, and main ingredients might vary -and then they have different names too depending on geography, google "aigua de València" for example- but none involves "wine and seven-up". Sangria is rather a "concept" more than a specific beverage, albeit it's also true that most people when thinking "sangria", they have one specific mix in mind. As a rule of thumb, one can say that "sangria" involves a wine -be red or white, sparkling or not-, some sort of fruit or even vegetables, often mixed with a tad of other spirits (gin, rhum....), sugar, sometimes cinnamon and other spices.... and patience to let it rest long enough so the fruit and the spices infuse the liquid. A tip: a sangria made on-the-spot it normally isn't. But again, we don't have a sangria police so anyone can make any claim, right? :)

In any case, for a simple way of making a proper classical red wine sangria at home, check this step-by-step article https://catalunyacuina.com/tapes/sangria-vi This page is best viewed with Adblock plus or similar in your browser, otherwise advertisement is quite annoying.

As per beer, as mentioned above, there's a tradition in certain other parts like Basque Country or Catalonia, but I am not familiar with the scene in Andalucia, sorry. Should you visit Barcelona again, here some info and some more.

I have been to Spain 3 times over the last decade or so, and am a big craft beer fan.

The craft beer scene has been growing in Spain, but of course nowhere near what we have in the US, or even the UK which has taken off in the last decade.

In Toledo, I believe there are now two or three microbreweries; a few more in Madrid, getting those beers usually means heading to one of those breweries. There are popping up craft beer bars as well, offering a selection, but generally speaking, the typical restaurant/bar will only have the big Spanish brews on tap, maybe a few odd bottles of craft brew.

I have found the Quality to vary. Most craft breweries are new operations, so some production issues. Tastes tend not to be as bold as you find in the US, the few stouts and porters are lighter in body, IPA's mildly hopped, and fewer wild combinations of styles (fruit flavored, sours, etc.) for the most part very basic beers.

As for Sangria, I think in only the cheapest or tourist centered bars would you find 7 Up in Sangria as a main ingredient, but it is not uncommon to take the wine/brandy/fruit mixture that has been made and steeping, and top it with something fizzy when served, typically sparkling water, maybe Cava, but in some places they may use something like 7 Up.

I would say that in Spain we don't have as diverse a beer culture as one would find in the United States (you probably won't find any Chocolate IPA on our shores lol). Although Spain is Europe’s 4th largest producer of beer, after Germany, UK and Poland.

Here are some of our more popular beers: Mahou (Madrid), Estrella Galicia (A Coruña), Estrella Damm (Barcelona), Cruzcampo (Sevilla) (Although personally I would not recommend Cruzcampo.) In Andalucía, try looking out for the Alhambra brand of beers which are from Granada. I would characterize all of these beers as rather light, probably not up your husband's alley.

However, if you are looking for something of higher quality (and percentage), in recent years Spanish beer companies have been producing specialty craft beers like these:

Estrella Damm Inedit - 4.8%
Created in conjunction with Ferran Adriá the famed chef from el Bulli, this one has a creamy texture with a hint of coriander and orange.

Ámbar Export Tres Maltas - 7%
From Zaragoza in the north, this one is also full-bodied and creamy with a distinct floral flavor.

Alhambra Reserva 1925 - 6.4%
This one is from Granada, its sweet and bitter at the same time with an aroma of caramelized fruit.

Voll-Damm Doble Malta - 7.2%
A very hoppy Märzenbier style beer, full bodied and characterized by its pungent yet rich bitterness, your husband may like this one the best, if he likes the strong stuff.

However, one will probably not find these specialty beers in your local tapas bar. You would have to go to the food market at El Corte Inglés to seek them out. Hope this helps! :)

He tends to like beer with some "substance", stouts, IPAs, dunkels, I think less so pils or kolsch type beers. It did seem like when we were in France, the beers we tended to see were like Heineken (ick) and nothing very interesting.

You will have to dig a little deeper for craft beer Spain and here is a good source
https://www.beeradvocate.com/place/directory/6/ES/

Same with France where I always find beer full bodied other than just Heineken

@Enric and SandyO, So very relieved that sangia in Spain is not wine and 7up. I might have had to cancel my trip! ;) I have a few recipes that I do at home with wine, and fruit, brandy, etc. I don't even know what to say about wine and coke. It sounds atrocious. I might, that is might, give the Tinto de Verano a try. I'm guessing that is what the videos I was watching were talking about. My daughter raves about Fanta so who knows?

I am very excited about this gin! I do like my gin and I wouldn't have known about any Spanish version.

I will alert my husband to this Alhambra Reserva. He likes sherry and also wine, so I'm sure he will be just fine. @Carlos, thanks for the great list, I'm going to print out this entire thread for my husband.

We usually do picnic lunches so we will look for beer (and probably wine, haha) in the grocery stores when we stock up. I really love outdoor markets in Europe, but I've also found it to be lots of fun to walk thru some grocery stores. I'm pretty good at putting together a traditional French picnic. What would a traditional Spanish picnic look like? Olives? Are they in jars or would I buy them at a deli counter? Any particular bread? Cheeses or versions of jamon we should try? Pasteries? Any particular fruits or nuts?

Another one who dislikes Cruzcampo.

The sad part is globalizacion has reached the craft beer market in Spain. La Sagra a craft brewery from Toledo has been taken over by Molson-Coors. Along these lines, I grew up in California thinking San Miguel was from the Phillipines

Getting a good beer in a bar shouldnt be a probleem. As I was coming home I stopped at a few bars, here in the center, where the tourists visit and I was able to see Budwieser, Corona, and several Sierra Nevadas, and many different quality brews. If you want to buy for a picnic you might have more of a problem, but if you go to the central market I would guess there will be a few stores selling locol products. In Seville you might wnat to try Rio Azul or 3 Monkey breweries.

For a truly Spanish picnic, I would incorporate different regional foods from across the country. You can find regional Spanish foods in the larger supermarkets like Mercadona or the more pricey Corte Inglés.
In an ideal world, (in my mind) Spanish picnics look like this Ideal Spanish Picnic but usually end up looking like this Realistic Spanish Picnic lol

Here are some of my favorite Spanish picnic foods:

Bread:
Start with a fresh baguette or pan de payés and bring some tomatoes and good olive oil to make a great Pan con tomate y embutidos.

Cheese:
Manchego Curado - A nutty sheep’s milk cheese aged at least 60 days
Mahon - Soft buttery cheese from the Balearic Islands
Cabrales - strong blue cheese from Asturias

Meats (the most important part!):
Jamón Ibérico - the King of hams
Chorizo - smoked paprika sausage
Sobrassada - soft paprika sausage from the Balearic Islands
Salchichón Ibérico - dried sausage made with the same pork as Jamón Ibérico

Look for the COVAP brand of meats, which stands for Cooperativa Ganadera del Valle de los Pedroches. It's an Andalucian agricultural cooperative founded in Córdoba, in my opinion, they produce some of the best dried meats in Spain at really competitive prices.

Nuts and Olives:
Marcona almonds - sweet, buttery almonds usually toasted with Rosemary
Andalucian manzanilla olives - these stuffed olives are a big thing in Spain, they can be stuffed with either anchovies, peppers, or even blue cheese.

Miscellaneous -
tortilla española - Spanish potato omelette
Gazpacho andaluz - refreshing cold vegetable soup

Hope these give you some ideas :)

Thank you Carlos! Did you say Blue Cheese? I had no idea. This just keeps getting better and better. I heard Jamon Iberico is really expensive. We plan to buy some to taste, but is there another "level" that might be budget friendly? Yum, especially since my husband really does like meat, a lot of it.

Jamon in Spain is like cheese or wine in France, a wide variety and a wide quality difference, but even the very reasonably priced versions are still very good.

You absolutely need to go to a good market and have then slice you off a small portion of Jamon iberico de bellota. Very expensive, but reasonable for a healthy taste. It is the top of the ham realm, very dry with an oily sheen, will melt in your mouth, with a slightly salty taste and a somewhat funky finish.

There are other "grades" of Jamon iberico, all from "black" pigs, probably almost as good, but each designates a lower grade of feed from free range acorns from "bellota"

You will also see Jamon Serrano, from "white" pigs, but cured in the same manner as above. Still very good, more of an everyday ham at a good price.

Besides that, there will be some regions that market Jamon under the region name, just have to taste to see if you like, any good market stall will give you a taste before you buy. Supermarkets and groceries will also have jamon to slice and prepackaged options, all pretty good and reasonably priced.

This thread is making me really hungry!!! Yum....

A suggestion to give vermouth a try while you are in Andalucia. It won’t be like the sicky-sweet stuff we mix into martinis here (or, rather, the stuff that I wave over my martini). You’ll drink it straight and sip it in a glass served like a whiskey. It was delicious.

I am so glad I created this post! Does the vermouth come sweet or dry? Which is the one you are referring to? Can this vermouth also be used for a martini with the Spanish gin? Or do they always drink it straight?

The Vermouth is really different and much better than the cheap stuff we get in the states, some bars will have it on tap, very popular in some areas. Typical serving is a tumbler full, sometimes with ice. I think it is closer to what you might call a sweet vermouth, but not overly sweet.

Also try the sherry, a wide range of options from young sweet ones to aged versions.

If you will be in Madrid, in the Mercato de San Miguel there is a stall that sells a nice range of sherry and vermouth to experiment, plus many other food options there.

@Jules M - In Spain we have an excellent blue cheese, the aforementioned Queso de Cabrales, it comes from a northern region of Spain, Asturias. I'd say that it's on par with what the French and Italians produce. Another interesting cheese you may find in the higher-end supermarkets comes from the Canary Islands and is called Queso Herreño - it's smoked over the wood of fig trees.

As for the Jamón, I think that Paul gives a good overview of the Jamón market. Although you'd be surprised, one can find some modestly priced Jamón ibérico that could work for a picnic. I would say that a good Jamón serrano (the level below ibérico) would also make for a nice picnic-friendly alternative.

On the topic of drinks, I think that what you may be referring to in your original post is what we call Vino con gaseosa, which is a mixed drink made up of 1 part red wine and 1 part gaseosa (a carbonated water similar to an American Seven-up, but much better). It's a popular drink to have during lunchtime and may be a nice and refreshing addition to your picnic!

I drank wine sometimes and beer sometimes when I was in Spain.

Wine was up to about 2.30 euro for reserva, most often about 1.50 to 1.80. Beer is served in small glasses but was often less than one euro (.80 was fairly typical) up to about one euro.

I'm not really a fan of Rioja from northern Spain (the most exported wine from Spain). I like Tempranillo wine, particularly from Valdepenas in central Spain.

Costco has a Tempranillo called "Museum" for under $14 a bottle. It's an outstanding wine (and value).

I'm not a Sangria fan unless I make it myself from wine and fruit/juices. It's often a way to make bad wine drinkable by adding lots of sugar and fruit punch.

Cocktails seemed to either be Mojitos or Gin/Tonic (called one word "gintonic" in Spain). One place served impressive gintonics in San Sebastian. They were about ten euro each, which is high end in Spain.

The small beer is a corto or zurito in the Basque Country. For a regular beer caña, and and a pinta for a pint.

Brad how is it that you like Tempranillo but not Riojas?

NOT RIOJAS! Sacrilège! lol... no worries :)

Although Tempranillo grapes usually make up part of the typical Rioja blends. I tend to favor wines from the Ribera del Duero region, but I will never say no to a good Rioja.

Preferring a Duero over a Rioja I can understand.

While the DOC of Rioja serves an important function, it also has some limitations. In Rioja the wines are

Young wines: This category guarantees the origin and vintage of the wine. They are usually wines in their first or second year which preserve their fresh, fruity, primary characteristics. This category may also include other wines which do not fit into the categories of Crianza, Reserva and Gran Reseva, even though they have undergone ageing processes, as a consequence of their not being certified by the Control Board.
Crianza wines: Wines which are at least in their third year, having spent a minimum of one year in casks. For white wines, the minimum cask ageing period is 6 months.
Reserva wines: Selected wines of the best vintages with an excellent potential that have been aged for a minimum of 3 years, with at least one year in casks and at least 6 months in bottle. For white wines, the minimum ageing period is 2 years, with at least 6 months in casks.
Gran Reserva wines: Selected wines from exceptional vintages which minimum ageing period is 60 months: at least 2 years in oak casks and 2 years in the bottle. For white wines, the minimum ageing period is 4 years, with at least one year in casks.

Some wineries are trying different ageing methods and production methods. So they may have a wine that is three years old but because it has not been in the barrel for a year, it must be called a Young wine. I have seen "Young" wines that are 3 years old and more expensive than a crianza. But it is a hard sell. The wine makers in Duero have a little freer hand.

One winery here in Logroño Iljaba is working on bringing back older varieties. They have a white that is 100% White Tempranillo, and another that is only the Graciano grape.