¿Cerveza? Favorite Beer?

hello,
I am making my first excursion to España this June-July.
I have a quick question for everyone; ¿What is your favorite type of beer from España? I would like to know the names so i can ask for them by name.
¿What beer is most often drank en España?

I am a 18year old from the States, i will be attending a language school for all of June and July.Then I will attend a colegio(high school)
en España for a semester this September-February.

Where would the best place be to go out to meet people that are my age in Madrid?

-Grant G. de South Dakota

Hello,
normally in Spain you don't have a great offer to choose, you just order a beer and the waiter brings you. In a few places you can choose.
The brand normally depends on the area where you are. In Madrid the most distributed and the best is Mahou , in some places you can find Voll Damn (higher graduation), Cruzcampo , Aguila (I don't like it too much), Heineken, Carlsberg ...
To find people of 18 years, probably the best places are Alonso Martinez and Tribunal, although it depends what kind of pubs do you like or if you prefer discos ...

Hey Miguelito, the fact that you're forgetting the very popular brand 'San Miguel' surprises me, specially considering your name!!!

Spain is the second world power regarding wine. I know this may sound
wierd since wine is not as refreshing as beer but then you have to
try a white wine called "Cava".

Regards,
André

P.S. I love Voll Damn beer

Grant,
The best place to meet people is in high school, it will be easy. And the best thing is your classmates will take you to the pubs/bars/discos/cafes....
The best beer? I LOVE Haineken and Coronita I don't know what is the difference between Corona (US) and Coronita (Spain) both taste the same to me

Hola Nuria (are you the one I met who works in the hostel or is that someone else?)

Corona was already taken as a brand name in Spain, so it's the only place where the beer is called Coronita. It's from México.

Yes Nuria, I agree with you, I didn't want to mention it before since it's not a Spanish beer (hay que hacer patria, ¡ja, ja!), but I love Coronitas, although maybe it's sort of a chick's beer 'cause it's mild flavored.

Yeah. They only serve (on tap) San Miguel in Madrid's El Brillante, but I understand you can order something else by the bottle. I like it, but much prefer a collllld Mahou . Mmmmm.. :p

It used to be, and not long ago, that beers were highly regional. You could ONLY get Cruzcampo in Andalucía[/url] and Mahou only in Madrid and so on. But now, you can get a Cruzcampo in Galicia, but I don't recall seeing a Mahou in Galicia.. Hmmm... curious. IT'S A CONSIPIRACY!!!!! hehehee..

Whatever you do, Grant G., while you are legally able to drink in Spain (or did they just raise the drinking age to 19?? ) don't overdo it. Don't fall into the botellón crowd. It may look cool to "hang out" and do the young, Spanish teenager thing, but it's really stupid. Don't do it. Don't OVERDO the drinking. (Why do I get the feeling that asking an 18-year old NOT to drink too much is like asking an 18-year old NOT to look at girls)

Asterault, this Nuria lives in New Jersey. You're thinking of the daughter Nuria of the Hostal López on Huertas in Madrid.

Good luck in Spain, Grant G., and have a wonderful time. This will the the experience of a lifetime.

Saludos, MadridMan

I'll echo MM's "fatherly" advice--I went to Spain at 20 (not legal to drink in the US) and tended to overdo it a bit during my stay there. Just remember that you're in a foreign country, not in your own, and that if you get into trouble (too drunk to find your way home, someone picking a fight with you, whatever), you're likely to be pretty incompetent to get yourself out of it.

I was really lucky that I had good Spanish friends who kept me from getting too far out of line, but a night of throwing up and having the spins outside my favorite bar made me realize it was time to back down a bit.

That said, I found that my Spanish was much improved with a single beer--it lowered the inhibitions just enough! Spanish beer is STRONG stuff to us Americans, though, and some bartenders mix LETHAL mixed drinks (including some horrible concoction of vodka and an orange drink like Tang--I still can't drink Tang without feeling ill after the liter of the stuff I drank one night!).

Just try not to make a stupid American of yourself--party and have fun, but you'll look (and feel) a lot cooler if your head's not in the toilet.

Hi Pim, sorry for forgetting the San Miguel, although it's not so easy to find it in Madrid.
They used to send me a letter with an invitation for a beer in San Miguel's day, and one day I tried to use it I couldn't find a San Miguel in all the neibourghood!!

You can 'shop around' for tabernas and just look to see what brand of beer they have on draught (i.e., cerveza de barríl). My personal favorite in Madrid is Mahou. Order una caña. That will get you a glass of draught beer.
In Andalucia I like CruzCampo; In Galicia it's Estrella de Galicia - in Catalunia it's Estrella Damm. Most of the beers in Spain are excellent!
When you order something like Aguila Imperador or one of the other 'premium' beers, expect to pay premium prices.
Some tabernas even have Kaliber (non-alcoholic) beer on draught. Just order 'Sin!'

Grant - one more echo of MM and taravb's comments. We've all spent more than one night hanging over that toilet - and each and every time those few drinks too many really ruined a fun night. Know your limit and respect it - being able to face friends with some dignity is more than worth it. Besides - most of the kids in EU countries grew up with wine and beer as part of a meal; they know how to drink and how much to drink without making fools of themselves. The American desire to get s*** faced isn't part of the culture in Spain and the last thing you want to do is hang out the entire time with other Americans making fools of themselves.

You'll make good friends and have an incredible Spain experience IF you follow the lead of your Spanish peers - except for the botellón crowd as MM suggested.

Puna, I think you're right about drinking to get drunk not being part of the youth culture in Spain. I found that my friends certainly drank (and they could handle more than I could), but only until they got silly/tipsy/piripi, not totally smashed. Drinking was more of a complement to an evening, not the sole purpose...and perhaps because they grew up with it, they didn't feel the need to do stupid things like shots to get drunk fast.

I think there's nothing more unattractive than a crowd of rowdy Americans in college sweatshirts, drunk off their a**es, singing Jimmy Buffett songs in the streets of Salamanca!

And it probably goes without saying that drinking way too much is even LESS intelligent if you're a woman, because the last thing you need to do is find yourself in a compromising situation without the presence of mind to get out of it.

This is horrible...I think I have turned into my MOTHER!!!

taravb - those last words of yours were my thought too. Are we really that bad?

Yes, y'all are that bad. Seriously, since I am still (dimly) able to rememeber being an 18 year old male myself, I do know what the temptations are in travelling to a country where drinking at that age is perfectly legal. However, I also remember what the consequences of indulging those temptations can be.

As noticed, most bars do not have a wide selection on tap. Asking for a "caña" will get you a (small) draft beer, usually Mahou in Madrid. My favorite is "Estrella Galicia," which is often available in bottles. It's sold in the US in some places, too. Unless you are masochistic, I would avoid a "clara," which is a small beer mixed with a lemon-y seltzer. Well, at any rate, I found it unpleasant.

Your best bet for meeting people your own age will be through your fellow students at the "instituto".

Have a great time. Do note that the Spanish way of going out differs from the American. Americans tend to hunker down in one bar and drink fairly heavily. Spaniards, on the other hand, will tend to walk from place to place, having a drink or two and a tapa at each place, often ending up at a club. Less conducive to getting wasted,as the walking and the food counteracts the alcohol, and more fun, in my opinion.

In general, too, Spanish girls (I'm assuming this is also an interest) are less tolerant of drunken foolishness than American girls. Many of my freinds who were fortunate enough to study abroad in Spain reported that the sort of drunken behavoir that is unfortunately acceptable at many American universities caused them to get made fun of by their Spanish friends. So, have a great time, but follow the Spanish lead in terms of acceptable amounts of drinking and behavior.

BTW, I thought the botellon phenomenon was mmostly restricted to younger kids? At any rate, I saw the aftermath at a park in Santander and it was really unpleasant.

Estrella is my favorite!

And, my impressions of "la marcha" lead me to believe that 18 yr. olds mix in w/ twenty-somethings w/out a problem.

Have fun!

Please don't generalize all 18 year olds from the United States as drunken kids. I too hate loud, drunk, annoying, obnoxious people of all ages and nationalities. In my family, alcohol was a drink, a part of a meal, like most other places on Earth. The majority of parents in the US do not let their children have even a taste of alcohol untill they are 21. Alcohol turns into
the "forbidden fruit" for kids. The fact that it is not allowed, is the reason they want to get SH*T faced.

I just talked to my exchange program director, and she told me that there are many families in spain that want to host a high school student! I hope one of them will look at my application and adopt me for 5 months. What an experience a semester in Spain will be! I'm scared to go to a high school in Spain, but once i become more comfortable with speaking, I will be fine.
sorry for rambling on, i'm so excited to live and study in Spain!

Grant - Good for you and your folks! As far as being comfortable going to high school in Spain - total linguistic immersion is far and away the best way to learn a language. Most of the people on the board who are bi-lingual or tri-lingual in the case of most Europeans, have learned at least one of those languages thru immersion. Odds are that any family offering to host a non-Spanish speaking student wants to help that student learn the language and experience a life and culture style different than what he/she is accustomed to. You certainly sound mature and responsible - I'm sure a wonderful Spanish family will "adopt" you for those five months!

Grant, you'll have more friends than you want! Hopefully kids are still as curious as when I was in high school and they will want to have you in their groups!
Keep an open mind at all times. If something seems strange or bothers you ask. Sometimes we do things that are culturally OK in Spain but not in the USA. Like, we are more "touchy" (that drove crazy to some of my American friends). Well, you'll se the differences that I am talikng about.
Have tons of fun!
Nuria

just a quick aside on the drinking age. The new anti-botellón law is putting the legal age up from 16 to 18. It also forbids shops and gas sations to sell alcohol at night, though I'm not sure when night begins. Needless to say, the proposal has caused an uproar among retailers. And what about irresponsible drinkers like me who just want a few cans of mahou around midnight to knock back in the privacy of my own home???

Grant G.no more warnings on overdoing the drinking.Overdoing being very subjective(My wife and I just overdid it for 2 weeks!)I wuold think an 18 year old wuold have some drinking experience so just use commom sense and good manners and the Spnish people respond warmly.We wuold order cerveza and take whatever they brought.Really liked bottled San Miguel and noticed the Irish pub had a large selection of draft beer(Belgian,German,Guiness)so yourself!

Grant, you're sure to have such a good time! I apologize for sounding preachy about the drinking issue; it just touched a nerve because during each of my four trips to Spain, I felt SO embarrassed to see groups of American college kids making idiots of themselves. They were often really (inappropriately) loud, sloppy/messy, and full of rude comments about Spanish food/customs/people.

On several occasions I heard drunken groups loudly criticizing Spanish people within earshot of MANY Spaniards, some of whom were bound to understand English. I felt it was incredibly insensitive and rude of the Americans to behave that way, and I imagine they would have been a little more circumspect about "sharing their feelings" if they hadn't been drunk.

Americans have such a bad reputation as travelers in many other countries--for not trying to learn the language, for being loud and rude, for dressing badly (maybe some of us deserve that part--you should see my dad when he travels in his white sneakers, khaki pants, and blue socks), etc. I always try hard to be the "perfect" traveler--friendly, kind, courteous, gentle, etc., and I get really upset to see people whose behavior just perpetuates the stereotypes.

That said, nearly everyone overindulges from time to time, and that may just be part of growing up--or growing up in our culture, where (as you point out) alcohol is certainly a forbidden fruit. My parents were like yours, Grant--if we wanted to drink wine or beer with meals, that was fine.

I guess the bigger part of my preachy advice is this--don't fall into the pattern of hanging out with Americans because it's easier to communicate. Make that initial effort, despite feeling awkward about the language, because you'll see a side of Spain you'll never encounter with crowds of Americans!

And regarding beer, you'll want to ask for a caña, not a cerveza, and probably most of the time you'll have to take whatever is on tap. It's all good. Maybe another difference in drinking styles (pointed out above, too, I think) is that many Americans don't think of getting tapas with each drink--having something to nibble on will keep you a bit more sober! Plus, some of the tapas are SO good and go really well with a glass of beer. Patatas bravas...mmmmm!!!!

In no particular order I recommend San Miguel, Voll Damm and Mahau (spelling)? Damm is Malty and sharper and the other two are nice light lagers........ If you find a place with Vermouth de Barril... try it... it is wonderfull with a twist of Lemon!!!!

Vol Damm is a fantastic Spanish beer and get into wines and cavas while you are visiting the most underrated wine country in the world!