Portugal is for wine, right? Of course it is. And I can report back that I sampled and enjoyed a wide range of the wine of this amazing country over two weeks there. But I also found some time to explore a relatively new and growing craft beer culture.

Starting in Lisbon, I found this great little craft beer bar, LisBeer, tucked a few streets off of the main beaten-down tourist paths.

I loved the ambiance of the place. It was dark, but not dingy. Atmospheric, really. And it had something I really needed. A very welcoming host who provided a couple of excellent selections. While the beer selection here stretched across the world, the woman working that night was thrilled that I was only interested in beers from Portugal. The Barona APA (on the right, below) ended up being one of the best beers of the entire trip.

I made a couple of trips to one other craft beer bar, Cervejaria do Carmo, while in Lisbon. On a hot afternoon, a tasty wheat ale always goes down well.

On a second visit, I was joined by someone else’s dog who was in search of head scratches. Cervejaria do Carmo was my kind of bar. Bars that allow dogs are one of my favourite things in the entire world.

Even without the dog, this bar had a nice view of some impressive tile work on the buildings across the street, and the novelty of sitting outside in mid-October to enjoy a beer never gets old on me. This dark schwarzbier from Cerveja Vadia, the view and the dog made for a nice afternoon rest.

A disclaimer so I don’t lose any craft beer street cred – I know Super Bock is not a craft beer. But you pour one of these ice cold, add a view over Lisbon, and enjoy it at the crisp hour of 10:30am while on vacation, and you can forgive anyone for feeling like it might be the best tasting beer in the world at that very time and place.

My craft beer sampling continued on in Porto. And in the spirit of “every beer with a view is a good beer”, I really enjoyed this Loba session IPA from the deck of our apartment with this stunning view over Porto. Lots of flavour for only 4%

And with a patio with a view like that, I made sure to pick up a number of domestic craft beers to take outside and look out over the river.

In Porto, I only made it to one craft beer bar, but it was a great one. Armazem da Cerveja had a great selection of beers…

… such a great selection, that I opted for a tasting flight to sample four. The one on the left, the OPO 74 Whiter Shade of Pale ale, ended up being the best beer I had over the course of the entire trip. Not bad for a wine country at all.