Portuguese Beer Scene is like America 30 Years Ago….and Not

Beer Party in Portugal like 1989!

Having been lucky enough to be in Portugal for 10 days this October – naturally along with the food, scenery and castles, I was looking for some good beer. In Lisbon – it was often near 80 degrees, and every street was a hill (up or down or sometimes both!) – so the thirst was earned.

Everywhere we went in Lisbon the beer we could find was the ubiquitous lager “Sagres” – a wet, cold and pretty bland 4.8 ABV American style macro lager. And to the unknowing tourist, and honestly most native Lisboners, that was the only beer available. It was to the point that the restaurant menus don’t usually even list brands of beer they carry – only the size and sometimes there was a “preta” or dark beer option. Beer was just beer, and Sagres was the one. Kind of reminds one of the US beer scene when craft was just coming on in the late 1980’s. There was starting to be good, interesting beer out there but you had to make an effort to find it.

The other majorly available beer in most of Portugal was a remarkable similar slightly more potent (5.2 ABV) lager called “Super Bock”.  It could be found here and there in Lisbon but is as popular as Sagres is in the north of Portugal – for example in Porto, the nation’s second largest city behind Lisbon. In Porto Super Bock was “the beer” – again, no need to list it on the menu. At least Super Bock offered several style options including an “IPA” – but finding those styles was indeed difficult. One pub I went to also offered Heineken – but that was just not a find for me.

Portugal has become a haven for US ex-pats and immigrants from other European and African nations. A recent article stated that 22% of the some 10 billion population was from the US (almost one in four). This is causing some consternation for the native Portuguese seeing their cost of living rising – but their income not keeping pace. That said, more than a few US expats are looking for better beer than Sagres and Super Bock – so, what are those “beer appreciators” supposed to do?

Beer Oasis

Fortunately for them, if you look hard enough you can find some beer-bars, and even some beer pubs in Portuguese cities. Unfortunately most are not close to the touristy areas, and those that are can be somewhat uneven – a so called “beer bar” with a very few choices, or imported IPA’s that can cost 6 or 7 Euros (about 8 or 9 dollars). But, in Lisbon I happened upon a “Delirium Tremens Cafe” tap room/pub in city center, and in Porto there was also a “Gulden Draak” pub dishing out 10%+ ABV tasty Belgian Brews. These were expensive, imported and high ABV beer alternatives to the Sagres/Super Bock generic lagers. It’s hard to tell – but it didn’t appear to me that there were many native Portuguese sipping Belgian Ales in those spots.

With the help of some bar keeps and Uber drivers (called “Bolt” drivers there) I did find a couple of “real” brew pubs in the city of Porto – seeming more like US beer places, but again, they didn’t seem to be very popular, as they were mostly empty when I visited. The craft beer I found was generally pretty good too, with Sours, Stouts, IPA’s and even some Saison’s available. But they were not available in most restaurants or pubs.

In the US in the 1980’s the availability of craft beer was similarly spotty, and many taprooms unsophisticated.  But, the reasons for the growth and domination of Bud, Miller and Lite beers in America then were very different than the similar situation found in Portugal today.

Portuguese beer is not a traditional part of their Culture

The very long and complex political and economic history of Portugal is far too much for this article. But, as fact would have it, unlike the US, there was no real historical culture of Portuguese beer.  Portugal, and most of southern Europe, has a long culture of wine making and drinking. Beer wasn’t introduced until the late 1800’s and the first real Portuguese brewery (which later became Super Bock) started brewing publicly in 1927 (a time when the US had already been enduring Prohibition for 7 years). 

About the same time modern brewing was introduced to the Portuguese, the country was taken over by the infamous conservative dictator Antonio Salazar, who managed Portugal the way he chose for over 35 years. During his “Estado Novo” regime he only allowed commercial brewing from two companies – Sociedade Central de Cervejas, S.A. and Unicer – Bebidas de Portugal, S.A. which not surprisingly eventually made Sagres and Super Bock beer. Once his regime was overthrown in 1974, those companies were nationalized, and Portuguese brewing was once again open to new breweries.

Unfortunately, a number of national issues resulted in minimal interest in starting small innovative breweries in Portugal until the 2000’s. Social turmoil, a lower standard of living, and a general lack of public interest in beer other than “the big two” stunted most brewery startups. Wine was the cultural alcoholic beverage of choice, and Super Bock and Sagres was everywhere. They advertised heavily, won some awards, hosted rock concerts, and sponsored the nation’s soccer teams.

For some variation, in the warm weather some Portuguese drink their beer mixed with sodas like “Panache” (which is Sprite/7-up and beer) and “Tango” (currant juice and beer).

But some craft breweries have made it in Southern Europe and even Portugal. I was fortunate to find a “Letra” tap room in Porto. Founded by two former Portuguese chemical engineers who reportedly discovered the brewing culture in the Czech Republic, Letra has been brewing organic beers in Portugal since 2013. (Letra means “letter” and each beer is named by a specific letter.) I enjoyed a “B” – a clean pilsner, and the unlettered beer named “Stained Glass” (a hoppy lager) when I visited their pub.

Cervaejaria Nortada resembled a large American Brewpub (other than the lift to the typically unusual European bathroom) and featured some very good local and international food with their beer. The atmosphere would be very familiar and comfortable for US craft beer drinkers, and I enjoyed their lightly hopped (to me) 5.6% ABV IPA. They also offered a “Belgian Strong” which at 8.5% ABV pales compared to the 11%+ Gulden Draak brews available only a few blocks away at their pub.

Looking for another local brewery walkable from my hotel in Porto, I found a “Cervejaria Do Carmo” taproom nearby. While the actual production brewery is at another location, the mostly empty tap room was across the street from a renown and beautiful blue-tiled Church of Carmo (Igreja do Carmo). While they only had one actual “Carmo” beer on tap (which was a tasty Pilsner) they also offered a number of guest taps. I asked the tap room manager about why craft beer seemed to have such little interest in Portugal. He simply told me “it’s too expensive for most Portuguese – and students have no money.” While he acknowledged that interest in craft beer has increased some in recent years, people drink Super Bock and Sagres because “that’s what they grew up with” and it’s usually much cheaper – around 3 Euro vs. 7 or 8 for a craft beer.

While there are other notable craft breweries that sell their beer in Portugal (if you can find them) I would call out one in particular – which I only was able to sample in cans. The brewery is called “Garage Brewing” but it is not the recently popularized US Ohio brewery partially owned by the NFL Kielce brothers. This Garage started as a brewpub in 2015 in neighboring Spain, more specifically another ex-pat’s favorite town,  Barcelona. The founders of the brewery had started brewing small-scale when living in Ireland. After returning to Barcelona, they decided to open a brewpub which soon became a favorite for beer appreciators, and is considered as one of the early champions of the craft beer scene in southern Europe. 

I enjoyed their “Loo King Sha Rp” an 8% ABV New England Style IPA which was smooth and a bit creamy, with a nice dollop of spicy hops. You’d think you just had something from Vermont! But, just make sure you don’t go the the wrong Garage, as the Kielce version is reported to be a tasteless lite brew.

Will Portugal Ever Really Embrace Craft Beer?

It seems unlikely that craft beer will “catch fire” in Portugal like it did in the US from 2000 through 2010, as the country’s lower standard of living, deep culture of wine and the immense scope and power of Super Bock and Sagres will be hard to overcome. But, as US expats continue to flood the country, and the rest of Southern Europe starts to export more exceptional craft beer like “Garage Brewing”, slow but steady growth of craft beer does seems possible. I look forward to heading back to Lisbon and Porto in coming years and seeing what happens. In the meantime, some fortified Port wine and a few rare craft beer finds – along with the country’s wonderful food and scenery, will do just fine.