S.A. Damm: Estrella Damm

Spain is not known for their beers. In fact, I'd bet that diez personas in this country couldn't name one brand. And why should Spain be known for its beer? Spaniards have been making incredible red wines for centuries. Every nation can't be like the great Republic of California and excel at both winemaking and brewing. And that's ok.

So I went to Spain and drank a ton of vino and sangria. And it was wonderful. I highly recommend the trip. On top of their tastiness, the wine is remarkably affordable without the added importing costs. If you scour a city enough, a decent wine can be procured for 1 Euro. I kid you not. Thus why drink anything else but wine? That is an excellent question. When traveling through France for a week I drank only wine and I still stick by that decision. However, for some reason or another beers are consumed rather frequently by locals in bars. Probably cause it's muy caliente in the summer. And since I was there for 60 days I decided to imbibe my share as well. (This can be evidenced by a picture of 19 year old Mattie sharing a brew with friends outside a local bar -->)

Spanish beer is mediocre at best. There are three major brands. Mahou, Cruzcampo, and Damm. Each brewery's flagship beer is the traditional European macro lager. My favorite was definitely Cruzcampo and thus I selected it as often as possible when deciding on a beer. However, as European travelers know, many bars in Europe are 'sponsored' by a single brewery where they only sell one type of beer. Thus I had my fair share of Mahou and Damm at certain bars as well. So when I saw Estrella Damm at BevMo, I had to take a trip down memory lane.

Honestly the trip was fun. The smell alone brought back memories. And it smells pretty good. But I'd never purchase a sixer again. I forgot that Estrella Damm is not that delicious. Despite the bottling, the beer has a metallic taste. The metal taste mixes with a corn flavor giving the beer the typical big brew sensation on the pallate.

So if you are off to Spain drown yourself in reds. And if you are going to try a brew, go with Cruzcampo. But if you are going Spain, congrats, because you've already made the right decision. Salud. Cheers.