The Barcelona Beer Fest 2015 is upon us

It started in 2012 in the humble beginnings of the St. Agusti cloister in the Born district in Barcelona, moved (with disasterous effect) to the Arenas shopping center for a year and looks to have settled down at the Museu Maritim of Barcelona. Each year the Barcelona Beer Festival has grown, and now is becoming one of the premier events for beer lovers in the city. Maybe I should say for beer lovers visiting the city. Last year I missed it due to work obligations, but this year maybe luck will shine brighter on me.

Here's the key info:

• March 13 -15, 2015
• 330 beers
• 60 taps
• Food will be available as will courses on beer and food pairings
• 7 euros entrance fee (includes a beer glass, program guide and 2 tokens, which won't get you very far)
• Meet the Brewer - chance to meet some of the top brewers for the show and ask them anything you can think of (beer related, one would presume). 
• Beers from around the world. Of course, this being the Barcelona Beer Fest and the Barcelona Beer Blog I'm going to go ahead and recommend that you stick with the local beers if you are just visiting our lovely city. There's more than enough for you to keep yourself amused for at least 1 of the three days with just the local stuff. On the other hand, if you live here year round than by all means, dive into the more-difficult-to-find samples. 
• Museu Maritim of Barcelona is at the Drassanes Metro stop, right at the end of Las Ramblas.

It's likely to be a zoo, so if you're serious about the beer I would say get there early and plan out your beer route for the day. Too much dilly-dallying could mean a much longer line. 

La Festa Major de Gracia 2013 - 1st annual Vilabirra Microbrew Festival

La Festa Major de Gracia are one of the summer highlights of Barcelona. Every year the village of Gracia, which until 1897 was a separate, thriving town from the neighboring city of Barcelona, hosts a 10 day street carnival which turns the heart of the city into a maze of paper mâché decorations, stalls and activities for all ages. Locals mix with tourists among the brightly adorned buildings and squares. It really is one of the most interesting and festive celebrations of the summer in the city. 

This year, with the ever increasing craft brew revolution taking place across the peninsula, the festival is offering its first ever craft brew festival, VilaBirra. Hosted by the Cara B bar, the beer festival offers 14 taps with more than 30 different beers from around the world. Some of the local beers worth highlighting are:

• Sang de Gossa from Zulogaarden
• Suria from La Pirata (I haven't had this one, so it's on my short list to try first)
• Blat Raner from L'Anjub (probably my favorite wheat beer from Catalonia, one of the best I've had from anywhere in recent years)
• and perhaps the one I am most looking forward to: La Virreina, which is a beer made specifically for the Festa Major, only 850 bottles made according to the website. 

In addition to the beers available for sampling, there will be activities such as beer tasting courses, concerts, and a workshop on homebrewing. So if you needed another reason to visit Barcelona's most popular summer festival this year, may i suggest the VilaBirra Festival!

BirraSo - Microbrews and Music Festival in Poble Espanyol

This morning I discovered another beer festival - they're popping up all over the place these days, a far cry from the early days when there were 2 or 3 that you could find somewhere within driving distance over the course of the year. This festival is called BirraSo - (loose translation is "Beer and Sound"). The inaugural edition will take place September 6 and 7 in Poble Espanyol in Barcelona from 6:00-10:00 pm. According to the website, it's going to feature two nights of great soul, funk, garage rock and more. Truth be told I don't recognize any of the bands, but that's why we've got Internet, so I'll be searching for some of their songs so as not to appear like I'm only going to be there for the beer.

Which brings us to our next, and more important point (from my perspective, of course): The BEER. The provisional list of breweries is promising, with some of the most established local breweries like CCM, Guineau (no link for you, you guys still owe us 35 euros worth of ambar malt...2+ years and counting), Fort and Steve's, a product of the godfather of the Catalan microbrew revolution Steve Huxley. Also making appearances from the Iberian Peninsula we have Naparbier, and foreign representation from Switzerland (Bad Attitude), Holland (De Molen), the UK (Brew Dog) and the USA (Anderson Valley).

But more than just sampling some of the fine local and not-so-local beers, there will also be brewing workshops, and the website suggests there will be more information/surprises coming along over the next month.

Tickets are 20 euros in advance and 25 at the door.

La mostra de cervesa de Sabors Catalans - (Catalan Flavors Beer Tasting) comes to the Port of Segur de Calafell

11 - 07 - 2013

Beer lovers have an added reason to visit Calafell, as from July 26 through 28 the Port of Segur-Calafell is celebrating the second annual Catala Flavors Beer Tasting. The party starts at 6 in the evening and goes on to midnight with music and activities for children and all people. 

More beer festivals in Barcelona - Birrasec 2013 / July 13

This weekend in the Poble Sec district of Barcelona (on the Av. Paral.lel, in front of the el Molino cabaret)  there is another excuse to explore the lesser-visited sections of the city: the first annual edition of Birrasec, bringing together some of the regions' best known microbrewers like Les Clandestines, Marina and Popaire as well as a number of local brewers and some surprise kegs to be tapped, the event will take place on Saturday. Wish I wasn't going to be in Rioja, but I'm sure it's going to be a great time! Great to see all these neighborhood Beer festivals popping up, the tradition is growing and the beer is flowing.

Beer Festival in Molines De Rei (Barcelona) - April 2012

This weekend is the second annual Trobada de Cervesers Artesans de Catalunya (Meeting of Catalan Craft Brewers) in Molins de Rei. Saturday April 14 is the date for anyone who is interested in sampling some local beers and getting their hands on the new book, Guia de Cervezas Españolas (Guide to Spanish Beer). In addition to a number of local brewers, there will be a homebrewers competition to try some of the local homebrews. This is exciting news for the region, since just a couple of years ago most people might not have even known what homebrewers were! Unlike the Barcelona Beer Festival, which featured craft brews from around the world, this weekend's beer festival is limited to a more local flavor, and it's small format allows for quality time with the brewers.

Another Beer Festival - II Annual Craft Beer Fest in Molins de Rei (Barcelona)

The second annual "Trobada de Cervecers Artesans de Molins de Rei" (Meeting of Craft Beermakers of Molins de Rei" has a date: April 14, 2012! 

More information to come, but if you're going to be around Barcelona mid April, mark it down. Last year's inaugural edition was a great place to find local (and not so local) brewers, and we are definitely looking forward to seeing this year's lineup. Stay tuned for more details.

Barcelona Beer Festival - a retrospective

The first annual Barcelona Beer Festival has come and gone.  Lots of things I could write about, but today I am going to limit myself to a summary of the festival as a whole, rather than the individual beers (and there were plenty of options, from around Catalunya, Europe and the States).

Firstly, the idea of holding the beer festival in a Gothic cloister is romantic and cool, drawing us back to the religious roots of beer in Europe. Kind of cool, undoubtedly. But from a logistical standpoint it was a bit crowded. Yes there were tables, which were always packed (well, until about an hour before closing time on Sunday) and a few tables, but the size of the place proved a logistical obstacle. Getting to the taps was no more difficult than your average pub packed on a Friday night, really. But for so many beers it was tough to see which kegs were where, and making it from one beer to another sometimes seemed a Herculean task.

There were some great things to be said for the festival. I would be remiss if i failed to mention the fact that, as the first Barcelona Beer Festival, it was great to see it publicized on the local radio and around town. A real effort was made to get the word out (which might have accounted for the logistical problems mentioned above). It showed a real commitment to introduce the craft beer world to the public, for which I applaud (loudly) and raise my glass.

Another reason for celebration was the beer list itself. One might imply that the Barcelona Beer Festival would concentrate on beer from Barcelona. Logical of course. But to see the local craft beers lined up with beers from Belgium, Holland, Germany, England and the USA showed that they were not afraid to  put their own against the competition. The local beers stood tall and held their own against such well-known breweries as Rogue, Meantime, Brewdog, Mikkeller, Flying Dog and others. That to me was best publicity, to show that craft beer from Catalonia and Spain is an evolving world that in just a few short years has begun to stake its claim as a legitimate brewing region.

Barcelona Beer Festival - March 9 - 11, 2012

Te Barcelona Beer Festival is this weekend. As an American sometimes it takes me back to think that I will be going to a beer festival in the Gothic cloister of Sant Agustí Convent in Barcelona. More than one hundred beer varieties from Spain and abroad will be available.

There will be also culinary offers to go with the festival's various types of beer and the food & beer combinations that will be on offer at the Barcelona Beer Festival.

Entrance is free, and you can buy a glass there. We'll let you know how it goes. 

Initial thoughts on the Beer Festival in Molins de Rei

Once we found the place, last Saturday's Beer Festival was definitely the place to be for Catalan microbrews. We met some great new brewers (we'll post some notes about Vella Caravana, Auskekens, Alpha and Maquis in upcoming blogs) and tasted some great beers from some of the already established brewers as well. The prize for me for best beer of the day went to the Reptilian Imperial Stout -  just an out-and-out fantastic beer, even if the summer-like temperatures made for less-than-ideal drinking situations. Also nice to see the girls from 2D2Dspuma. 16 brewers in all, and while there weren't a huge amount of people, the small size made it a great way to really get to go one-on-one with the brewers, ask them about why and what they are making now. And from what we heard Saturday, looks like 2011 is in for some great new beers as the year moves on. Next beer fest is the big one in Mediona, and most of the guys I spoke with (brewers and visitors alike) are already getting excited about it!

I Annual Microbrew Festival in Molins de Rei

Today we are off to a the I Feria de Cerveza Artesana in Molins de Rei, just outside of Barcelona. Looks like there will be a great selection of local microbrews, some well known (like Glops or Zulogaarden) and others from lesser-known brewers. In total 16 different producers will be showing us their best brews. We'll keep the notebook handy for new and great beers!

Mediona Artisanal Beer Festival 2008

This year marked the third annual beer festival. It takes place in the quiet village of Sant Joan de Mediona, about 40 minutes from anywhere. Actually, it's about 40 minutes from Sant Sadurni and Vilafranca, which are as close to somewhere as you might hope to be. This year, we were assured by some who attended previous editions, was by far the most organized and with the best displays and beer selection of the the festivals to date. The early morning cloud cover gave way to a spectacular sun which left us slightly singed round the edges, but nothing that didn't wear off after a week or so. In short, it was a perfect day to examine more in depth the wealth of beers available (I counted more than 30 different varieties of Catalan beers).

In addition to the impressive number of Catalan microbreweries we discovered, there were representatives from other regions in Spain like Galicia, as well as Italy and the Cerveteca, which offered an excellent selection of beers hand-picked by Steve Huxley. For those less interested in the fermented drinks section, there was also a lively craft fair and live shows, including music and clowns to keep people of all ages in high spirits. And I must give a hearty thank you to the people running the Barbecue pit who kept us well fed and helped soak up those suds from the ever increasing number of samples. Everthing from hamburgers and butifarra to fruit smoothies were available.

At the end of the day we counted 16 beers among the samples we managed to get down, taking them in threes with a break to clean the palate and maintain semblances of sobriety. Some, like Glops or Cerveceria Montseny, were offering the beers we have come to know and enjoy, with the added bonus of being able to talk to the people who actually make the beers, and it is reassuring to see how their passion burns for what they do. Some of the best new beers we tried came from small producers, local, even home brewers (in at least one case). The Moska brewery in Girona impressed me with their ale, and the Zulogaarden beers (produced for the eponymous bar in Molins de Rei) were fantastic. Marc took home a chocolate stout from Zulogaarden which was absolutely divine. However, for me the winner was Almogàver's Plata Ale, which is impossible to find outside of craft fairs like this one.

All in all, a fantastic day and a great way to get your feet wet in the blossoming world of Catalan microbrews.