A Local’s Craft Brewery In The South Of Spain
Cervesa Montmirà in Castellón!
About three hours south of Barcelona there is a small brewery that is quite something.
It’s name is Cervesa Montmirà. Situated in the town of Castellón… this brewery is devoted to the region and its history. I mean… the current labels of all the beers they make bear the local municipality’s coat of arms. If that doesn’t tell you something… I don’t know what will.
I visited this microbrewery with a local friend of mine and we were able to get a tour and tasting from the main brewer himself, Alberto. Even though the operations of the brewery are fairly small… this place puts out some very true to form classic styles of beer. Montmirà’s main market is pretty much their immediate vicinity and as such they maintain the perfect brewing system for their needs.
This town is a small but intimate one. Nearly everyone knows everybody and there is something very special about that. Add to that where you can only get this beer in this part of the country… and you have something really special here. They do source some of their ingredients locally and of course that includes the water… since it always plays a big role in the beer making process. An understatement… I know.
Since the brewery is on the smaller side - they have a core line up of beers with some that they rotate in and out throughout the year. The brewery has actually been here for a while - it was founded in 2010! I asked Alberto how they handled the beginning of the pandemic and he gave it to me straight. Beer was designated a basic necessity but they did have six months where they stopped beer production. The locals really helped out the brewery… like so many breweries around the world and did something I have never heard of before… they bought out Montmirà’s entire beer backstock. The giant fridge onsite was completely empty! Once that happened in September of 2020… production ramped back up and they haven’t stopped since. It’s always good to hear of stories like this because beer is something nearly everyone loves and it just goes to show you that we are all in this together and there had better be some beer around because… man. This pandemic? UGH. I think we all need a beer from time to time in these times.
In our tasting we started off with a non-alcoholic IPA called Celestial Sin. I tend to avoid non-alcoholic beers but I will say it was pretty good. All things considering. You know… with the whole… no-alcohol-in-it deal. We then moved on to Bresca. This lager was extremely tasty and very easy to drink. Especially since it sits at 5.5% ABV and has honey and rosemary as its two standout ingredients. We then moved on to their American IPA, Montcàtil. This beer was made in collaboration with Agua de Benassal, a local spring water company, which may be the first time I’ve ever seen that kind of collab. From that alone… you can tell that Europe has a drastic difference in its relationship with water compared to the United States. This American IPA was very true to form and was quite tasty. Next on the tasting list was their Red Ale, Roxa! This had some hints of ginger but a very nice bite at the end. I tend to love a bit of bitterness in my beers and for me… I very much enjoyed this one. We finished off the tasting with their easy drinking stout, Tombatossals. Sitting at 5.4% ABV… this one has great milk chocolate flavors and just great soft roasty notes and an amazing nose.
Overall… an absolute great time seeing that beer can be made anywhere and is absolutely FOR THE PEOPLE. It doesn’t matter the system the beer is made on or where it is made… beer finds a way and as long as there is people to drink it? Well… not even a pandemic can stop it from being made and enjoyed.
