Well, one day I'll make it to Spain and give the beers over there a try. But in the meantime I am partial to San Miguel beer for a couple of reasons, first because it's a great beer and secondly because San Miguel is my middle name as well as my mother's maiden name!

I am a big Mahou fan, too. There are some bars up north that have it on tap. But there is something special about draft beer in Madrid. It probably has to do with the great service (something which bartenders in Pamplona would do well to learn from) and probably the freshness of the beer. Lots of bars here don't seem to clean their lines very often either.

I don't mind the bargain beers at Carrefour. I like the small 25cl bottles of Carrefour beer. I drink it so cold I can hardly taste it anyway. Sort of like "Little Kings", huh, MM? Those are/were a favorite in some parts of the Midwest.

Husband is a homebrewer on a fairly large scale & intrested in local beer. I have noted your "lists" of beers. Any others would be appreciated!
Also anyone know if there are any local breweries that one could stop by for a "peek"?

I don't know if ChrisR has ever been to England, but you often get "Real-Ale" bores there who talk like this. What they never tell you is that when continental beer producers starting selling their lagers in the UK (Carlsberg, Heinekin) they had to produce weaker versions as the typical strength of English beer was 3.4%. This has now changed and you can get beers in the UK that are up to the continental average (4 - 5% ABV).
I sometimes brave one or 2 English traditional beers (and find some very enjoyable) but I would advise anyone new to English beers to be selective. Even hardened drinkers can have a bad pint and bad guts to follow (I wonder if that is what is meant by character?).
When I'm in Madrid I enjoy the odd glass of Mahou. I don't need to sneer at other beers - it's just that Mahou seems right, especially on a hot afternoon when something cool and refreshing is called for.
End of the day the old phrase "What's your poison?" seems apt here. If you haven't decided yet what you prefer may I recommend you carry out some more research! But not too much at one time.
Cheers

Chris I don't see my (defensive) comments as being a personal attack on you. Nor do I think the other posters were attacking you personally. I think if you make a snide attack on someone's opinion (in this case praising Mahou beer) you can expect others to make a defence. There are always two sides to any argument. However we try to make an opinion without meaning malice. I apologise if you think I made my post with malice (incidentally it was in response to your post which I also feel was a negative post).
To prevent this getting into a spat I won't add further on this thread.

Mmmmm... Mahou Beer (from Madrid), Cinco Estrellas. Mmmmm... :p I love that stuff. On my flight back to the USA (Madrid->Atlanta) I was fortunate that they had ONE can of CruzCampo (from Andalucía) onboard.

Here in Columbus, Ohio, USA you can find Estrella de Galicia which is pretty good too. I remember having one of these while watching a sunset on a near-beach terraza of Cambados, Galicia.

Saludos, MadridMan

Another great beer is one made the brewery Alhambra. In fact, I think it's Alhambra's premium beer. It's sold in a dark green bottle. It kind of looks like a mini-Champagne (Whoops! Excuse me, I mean "CAVA") bottle. The name is a year, I just can't remember which? It doesn't have a paper label. It's all part of the glass. Does anyone know what I'm talking about and can they remember what it's called?

It's not easy to find in Madrid, but you should try it some time because it's gooood!

Then there's always the immortal Mahou (Cinco estrellas, not Clasico)!

From their Website ( http://www.cervezasalhambra.es/ ), it surely is "Alhambra Reserva 1925".

Am I the only one who prefers Mahou Clasica to Mahou 5 estrellas?

Boy, you are really a verylucky guy, MM! First you get Spanish TV, and you have access to Galician beer! Short of being in Madrid, this is as good as it gets, in my opinion .

Envious in la Florida!