Spain and craft beer.  Not two concepts that you’d immediately place together.  In tapas bars in Madrid and Seville, there would always be one tap, and ordering a beer meant having whatever brand was flowing.  Not that this was a bad thing.  The beer was always ice cold, and while eating salty olives, perfectly sliced ham, or any of the other culinary staples in Spain, it made for a great pairing.   Thirsting for something a little different, over two weeks in Spain, I had a few opportunities to dig a little deeper for a beer culture that is emerging, if still at the fringes.

Thanks to an article by the wonderful travel blog, Bite-Sized Travel (written by a fellow Haligonian!) I was inspired to chart a course of a few craft beer locations and beers in Madrid, Seville and Cordoba.   My first stop was Fábrica Maravillas, less than a 5 minute walk north from the Gran Via metro.  It’s a brewery in the back, small pub in the front kind of place.  I tried two of their beers – the Malasaña (left; named after the neighbourhood in which the brewery is located; a well-balanced American-style piney IPA) and a bitter (right; light and easy drinking).  This was also the start of my love affair with the plump, salty olives of Spain.   The only thing missing from this visit was the pub’s resident pug, who, if he was around, may have enticed me to stay for a third or fourth beer.

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