Beyond lager and pilsner
For many years, ordering una canya in a Catalan bar usually meant one thing: a small glass of pale lager, often Estrella Damm. The bottled selection was frequently similar, offering another brand rather than a genuinely different beer style.
That is still common, particularly in busy tourist areas, but the choice is gradually expanding. Independent breweries have appeared across Catalunya, while more bars, bottle shops and taprooms now serve IPAs, wheat beers, amber ales, stouts and other styles.
For places in Girona and the Baix Empordà with a broader beer selection, see our Beer, Glorious Beer!’ guide.
Catalan craft breweries to know
Below is a selection of independent breweries and beers from across Catalunya. It is a starting point rather than a complete directory, as new breweries, collaborations and seasonal releases continue to appear. Click the brewery names to visit their websites and find out more.
Moska de Girona
Moska de Girona has been on the go since 2008. They brew eight different styles of beer using only natural ingredients without any additives or preservatives. They have won several individual beer awards at the annual Spanish Campeonato Nacional de Cervezas in Barcelona.
La Pirata Brewing
At La Pirata, they like to experiment, and as a result, they have one of the widest ranges of beer varieties of any craft brewer around. They seem to have around sixteen different beers in total, some of which are brewed seasonally, so at any given time, you should be able to find just the right beer for the moment. They are based in Súria in Barcelona province and have a taproom and shop there, and although it’s not somewhere you’re likely to just happen upon, their beers can also be bought online.
They have won multiple awards for their beers at the Campeonato Nacional de Cervezas, including best brewery in the first two editions, 2015 and ‘16.
L’Arrossa
Normally, rice (‘arròs’ in Catalan) shouldn’t be an ingredient in any self-respecting beer, but if that rice is Arròs de Pals, exceptions can be made. The quality of the rice in question even allowed L’Arrossa to win a silver medal at the 2013 Dublin Craft Beer Cup, no less! These days, they brew five different beer varieties, including a very good Irish Extra Stout (maybe in celebration of that silver medal?).
DosKiwis Brewing
Founded by a Catalan-Kiwi couple in 2016, this wonderful brewery, just outside Rupià here in El Baix Empordà, also has a taproom so you can visit and enjoy their impressively wide range of beers in the very place they are brewed. They have a beautiful beer garden, regular beer tastings, and live music from time to time. This place is well worth a visit, but in case you don’t want to wait until you can visit in person, you can also buy craft beers from them online.
We visited these guys to learn more about how they got started and why in Rupià. Naturally, we also sampled a few of their brews! Read more about our visit to DosKiwis Brewing!
Cervesa Marina
This brewery was set up by two brothers in 2010 in Blanes. It offers a wide and interesting range of beers, some of which are brewed in collaboration with other breweries, both domestic and international. The brewery has won multiple awards for its brews and even organises a beer festival right on the seafront in Blanes every May.
Barcelona Beer Company
At the BBC, they pride themselves on the quality of the natural and local ingredients they use to produce their unpasteurized beers and the fact that they don’t use any additives or chemicals. They have five core ales and another five seasonal beers. They also have a taproom in the centre of Barcelona that serves food to accompany their beers.
FdL Beer Project
FdL was founded in the Sant Andreu neighbourhood of Barcelona in 2013 by a couple of craft beer enthusiasts. The initials in the name stand for ‘Flor de Llúpol’, which means ‘Hop Flower’ in Catalan. In 2018, the words ‘Beer Project’ were added to declare their “intention of expanding beer horizons and knowledge, allowing the project to stay alive and mature beyond the district of Barcelona where we were born”. In 2020, they relocated to Banyoles. They produce two main beers from their own recipes inspired by traditional Belgian beer styles: Comrade (6% dubbel) and Piroutte (8% Belgian tripel).
Cervesa del Montseny
Founded in 2007, this was one of the first microbreweries established and is now one of the largest. Their craft beers are handcrafted, natural, unpasteurized, and contain no artificial preservatives. They have a taproom if you want to visit them in Sant Miquel de Balenyà, but if that’s not handy enough for you, their core brews are also more widely available in shops and supermarkets than most other craft beers, making it easy for you to pick up a few to try at home.
Soma Beer
Based in Girona, these guys seem to like to regularly try something different and they have been involved in several collaborations with other brewers. They especially specialize in the production of extra-hopped styles of craft beers, and their brews are available in bars in the city, but they do not have a taproom themselves – at least not yet, anyway! You can also buy their beers from their website.
Ales Agullons
The brewers in this place are fans of English-style beers, so that’s what they produce. They live and work in a farmhouse near St Joan de Mediona that used to produce wine in its past life. They have five core beers as well as some “special” seasonal varieties.
Art Cervesers
This brewery emphasises using local, natural ingredients of the highest quality. All its beers are unfiltered and unpasteurised, and one of its principal aims is to produce beers that will encourage more people to sample craft beer in the hope of “converting” them. It is located in Lliçà d’Amunt, just outside Granollers.
Emporion
Emporion is a microbrewery with tastings, located at Can Vinyals just outside the railway town of Flaçà. They brew around eight varieties, including seasonal options, served in their beautiful beer garden set beside a masia with a turreted tower, all surrounded by the Empordà countryside. Open from early June to October, Emporion’s lineup includes pale ales, a milk stout, a dubbel, a Berliner, a session beer, and a 0.0%, perfect if you didn’t take the train to get there!
WHYM
This small-scale brewery was originally located in Santa Cristina d’Aro but later moved to Vilablareix. The name comes from the English words for the ingredients for beer: Water, hops, Yeast, and Malt. Some of their beers are available year-round, while some are brewed seasonally. Given the size of the brewery, their beers are not the easiest to find – but if there’s one place you might come across them, it’s here on the Costa Brava, so keep an eye out! You can also order their beers from their website; their prices are very reasonable.
Wylie Brewery
Wylie Brewery is based in Sitges, just south of Barcelona City. They produce a pilsner, a bourbon barrel-aged imperial stout, and a few IPAs, one of which, Afterglow Session IPA, was named the best beer of 2024 at the Campeonato Nacional de Cervezas! Wylie Brewery itself was also awarded as the Best Brewery – quite some achievement! They have two pubs where you can NjOY! their brews if you happen to find yourself in the Sitges area, or you can buy their beers online from their website.
Limbik Co.
Limbik Co. is a small craft brewery based in Figueres, in the Alt Empordà region of the Costa Brava. Inspired by the local landscape, they produce a range of unfiltered beers using only 100% organic and locally sourced ingredients. Limbik keeps things simple, focusing on quality over quantity and staying true to the character of the region. The result is a beer that feels honest, well-balanced, and closely connected to its surroundings. Whether you’re exploring Catalan Craft Beer for the first time or looking for something new from the Empordà, Limbik is worth discovering. Their beers are available through their online shop and can be shipped throughout Spain.
Rufa Cervesera
Another craft brewery from Figueres, this one was founded in 2012. We’ll use their own words to explain where the name comes from: “In the Empordà, the Rufa is known as the cloud that flies over the region announcing the arrival of the north wind, in the same way, the foam of the Rufa floats on top of an Empordà in a liquid state foreshadowing a new moment of pleasure ready to be tasted.” They have four core beers, plus other limited edition brews, and you can taste them all at the brewery by taking a guided tour. Small groups of a max of five people cost €12 per person, or €10 per person for groups of 6 to 12.
Engorile
Engorile is a relative newcomer to the craft beer market, being founded in 2019 in Sant Miquel de Balenyà in the Province of Barcelona. They are passionate about IPAs in particular, and their mission is to produce high-quality, hoppy, and very drinkable beers. As they say themselves, “Engorile is more than a beer, it is a lifestyle, a state of mind!’
La Brava
Located in Vulpellac, in the center of the Baix Empordà, La Brava is brewed with all-natural ingredients. Its fermentation is three times longer than that of big brand beers. La Brava is a pilsner-style beer inspired by the region it takes its name from.
Basqueland Brewing
As you can guess by the name, these guys are not Catalan, but we felt they deserved a mention for a couple of reasons. First, they won Best Overall Brewer at Campeonato Nacional de Cervezas in 2017, ‘19, ‘20, ’21, ’22 and ’23! (Wow!) And secondly, their beers are readily available here in Catalunya in certain bars and shops. You can also order online for home delivery, and even though the beer will be coming from the Basque Country, delivery is free if you order €48 worth or more.
Incidentally, since those National Beer Championships began in 2015, Basqueland have won six of the ten Best Brewery Awards, and Catalan breweries have won the other four, so we’re sure our Catalan brewers won’t mind us including their Basque brethren here! (What the heck is the matter with the rest of Spain, though?!)
La Black Flag
Located in an industrial estate on the outskirts of Girona city, this is a beer shop, not a brewery. You can either visit in person, sample beers, and purchase from the shop, or order online for home delivery, which is free for orders of €75 or more. They have a pretty vast selection of craft beers from all over the place—local and international.
So there you have it. A brief introduction to just some of the craft beers being produced in Catalunya at the moment. And there are more, too many to cover in one blog.
The Barcelona Craft Beer Tour
If you happen to find yourself in Barcelona between Tuesday and Friday of any week, you might like to join the guided Barcelona Craft Beer Tour. Starting at 18:00, it’s a walking tour with a starting point at Belushi’s right in the centre of the city, one block from Plaça Catalunya. The cost is €25, and this includes an introduction to brewing and the different types of beer, a brewery tour, six different beers to taste along with some snacks, and, of course, an introduction to some of the best gastropubs in town. You can book online, over the phone, or in person.