The Beer Shop—Barcelona's newest international beer emporium

It is Friday after work and a small crowd has gathered around a few open bottles of Nut Brown Ale from the UK brewery Sam Smith. There is a moment of contemplation as the opaque liquid settles from the fresh pour. Then, glasses are raised.

“It’s dark, isn’t it?” someone says. “Dark, but so smooth!”

Spain is Europe’s fourth largest country by beer consumption, but the €6 bilion market is dominated by local lagers such as Cruzcampo, San Miguel, Mahou, and Estrella Damm.

Jorge Blanes, owner of The Beer Shop in Sant Gervasi, wants to change that.

“My goal is to educate people about beers—to show them that beer is more than the blonde, refreshing and slightly bitter drink everyone is familiar with,” he says. “The fact that there are many different styles of beer is eye-opening for some people.”

Blanes says there was a time when he didn’t even like beer. It was while living in the United States in the Nineties and 'Noughties', that he discovered ales, porters, wheat beers and lambics.

Today, customers come in to The Beer Shop looking for something different and Blanes tries to determine their taste. Do they like fruity drinks? Have they tried strong beers? Getting it right, he says, is extremely gratifying. His most common recommendation of late: Le Fruit Defendu (The Forbidden Fruit) from Hoegaarden, an 8.8 percent ABV wheat beer with complex spicing. He currently stocks 200 varieties of beer and hopes to eventually have three times as many—though he stresses he’s still more of a well-intentioned fan than a beer expert. 

The Beer Shop is the product of intense labour. Blanes, a former insurance salesman, shopped his business plan around to almost every bank in Barcelona before one gave him startup capital. Then, he had to custom-design the shelves, re-do the electrical wiring, and wait for permits to come through. In Spain, not known for being an easy place to start a business, this can be agonising.

So far, response from the neighbourhood has been favourable. At the inauguration night, someone entered the store after lingering for a long while outside, gazing quizzically through the windows. “Only beer? You sell only beer?” He raised a finger and the corner of his mouth twisted into a smile. “Excellent. Good luck.”

There are indications that the Spanish beer palate is more discerning than it once was. Many come in to The Beer Shop asking for darker beers because they have tried Voll-Damm. Estrella has also collaborated with chef Ferran Adriá since 2009 to brew Inedit, a wheat beer infused with cilantro, orange peel and licorice root. And The Beer Shop is not the first of its kind in Barcelona—there is also La Cerveteca, 2D2Dspuma and La Maison Belge.

But Blanes says he’s not out to wage war against what some customers call ‘normal’ beer. “Every beer has a moment,” he says. “I wouldn’t drink a Chimay on the beach when it’s 30 degrees. I’d reach for a cold Coronita.”

The Beer Store, Amigó 30, Barcelona 08021 (FGC: Muntaner). Tel. 93 119 0489. Open: Monday-Saturday, 10am-9pm