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BeerCascais
The shoppers had run dry…in that everyone’s low-alcohol light flashed on. We’d done our best to wander through every cork-selling, port-pushing, tile-vending loja in Cascais–which was once a fishing village west of Lisbon on the Atlantic coast, but now mainly hosts tourists on a week’s holiday (or Brits escaping the rain). I’d reached my €15…
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Dunes Make Perfect Peaks
Friends met us in the park, but the café was closed. “Why don’t we go out to the dunas?” they asked. Why not? Every season’s different on the Duna da Cresmina, just up the coast from the town of Cascais, in Portugal. We’d walked the boardwalk in February, August, November, watching as the paths covered…
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Hops & Drops, Praia das Maçãs
Women who brew are a rare breed in Portugal, and we’ve had fortune smile upon us enough to have a great micro brewer stake a claim just down the hill from our home in Praia das Maçãs. Marta Pardal began brewing her IPA, Sete Ais (7 years), in Magoito a couple of years ago, and…
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Flor de Lúpulo, Lisboa
So nice we stopped in twice…on the same night. Nothing encourages me to leave the comfort of my couch early for a meeting in the city like two things: beating the traffic snarl at 5 pm, and the chance to hit a new pub along the way. So we drive down to Lisboa an hour…
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Flagship February
I had the first of my brews for Flagship February a wee bit prematurely, on Burns Night (January 25), a Scotland-appropriate Punk IPA brewed somewhere in Aberdeen. As an early introduction to the craft beers of the UK, it was fine a few years ago—and it remains a favorite. That’s why we celebrate the month…
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Cerveteca Lisboa, Principe Real
On the Praça das Flores, the evening descends and the lights come on all around the not-quite-square plaza. In the midst of Principe Real, in Lisbon, patrons turn to their favorite hangouts for a bite and a beer…it’s a fine Saturday in January so people are out and about, enjoying the last drops of sun.…
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Mercearia do Campo de Ourique
We find excuses to explore the many bairros of Lisbon—the city, much like Paris, is more a collection of villages than one monochromatic town. Perched on a hill overlooking the lower quarters on the river, Campo de Ourique survived the earthquake of 1755 like a bear—it’s shaped like one, and for a while I thought…
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Ouro, Incenso e Birra, Marvila
Last year, the cold of early January struck us hard, but we warmed our hearts (if not our hands) by heading down to Marvila and wrapping those hands around a succession of beers. The Festa dos Reis put on by the Lisbon Beer District, featured Cerveja Musa, Dois Corvos, and Ceveja Lince—and I guess they…
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My Top 5 Portuguese Craft Beers, 2018
Before launching into Tryanuary 2019, here are five of my favorite Portuguese craft beers from 2018: First up: the very local SIN Mag8 Setais NEIPA from Sintra. 6,3% abv; Meyer lemon peel nose; Tropical fruits on the palate; Creamy & hazy with a lightly bitter end. Second on my top five beers from Portugal in…