Sun, Sea, Sand and Craft Beer? How the beer landscape has changed on the Algarve!

Over the past 5 years my wife and I have enjoyed 4 brilliant holidays to Carvoeiro, a small resort 40 minutes east of Faro on Portugal’s Algarve.

We first visited in October 2014 and immediately fell in love with the place. We found that Carvoeiro had everything we wanted from a relaxing holiday destination. But could I get a good Beer?

Carvoeiro has developed from a small traditional Portuguese fishing village and is now a small but bustling holiday resort with a great selection of bars, restaurants, shops and hotels. It’s still small enough that it’s retained its traditional charm whilst still moving with the times, providing everything you would expect from a modern vibrant town.

Moving with the times has meant that even Carvoeiro has not escaped the ‘craft beer revolution’. When we first visited I was only just discovering craft beer myself, back in the UK the craft beer scene was still very much a work in progress. In Carvoeiro craft beer was non-existent. Going for a drink involved four choices, wine, beer, cider or cocktails. If you chose beer your choices were relatively restricted. The only beers available in nearly all establishments were ‘Superbock’ a 5.2% ABV pale lager from the Carlsberg group, ‘Sagres’ a 5% ABV pale lager ultimately owned by Heineken and of cause Guinness!

On our next visit the following year not much has changed. The only subtle difference was that ‘Superbock Stout’ had started to appear in a few select bars and restaurants, but on the whole its availability was very limited. In most venues I would be met with blank stares when I requested in at the bar, on more than one occasion when asking for a Superbock Stout I was proudly presented with a pint of Superbock lager!

‘Superbock Stout’ is a 5% ABV dark stout produced by Superbock who are part of the Carlsberg group. I was impressed by the smooth creamy mouthfeel which coupled with a milk chocolate, sweet vanilla and roasted coffee flavour resulting in an extremely drinkable and enjoyable stout. It wasn’t as heavy as Guinness and as it was sold in 330ml rather than pints, it was also much more sessionable; just what I wanted for a long afternoon in the sun!

 In 2017 we returned again, on the face of it nothing had changed. Superbock and Sagres were still the most popular and available beers while Guinness was still the go to dark beer. Superbock Stout was now available in a wider range of venues, most important of all being my hotel bar!

But once you scratched the surface subtle and important changes were beginning to appear. Firstly in many of the restaurants were now offering other European Lagers on draught, San Miguel, Stella Artois and Heineken were all available depending on the venue. Not exactly ‘craft beer’ but at least there were now more options.

On a slightly more exciting note, when I was in the town’s main bottle shop selecting a bottle of Port to take home for my parents I noticed 3 different brightly coloured 330ml bottles. On closer inspection I realised I was looking at 3 bottles from a Lisbon based brewery Cerveja Musa. I found to my delight an Oat Stout, an IPA and a Red Session IPA, all with a music, theme. ‘Twist and Stout, ‘Born in the IPA’ and ‘Red Zeppelin’…..see what they did there! Unfortunately all were sat on a warm shelf in direct sunlight, also being my last day of the holiday I decided to give them a miss. There will be a next time I thought!

Sadly I had to wait 2 years for the next time but when it came I certainly was not disappointed.

By this time it was May 2019. The craft beer scene in the UK was well established, Magic Rock had just found their way onto Tesco’s shelves and breweries like Cloudwater, Deya and Verdant were producing top quality beer that were giving the Americans a run for their money.

When we arrived in Carvoeiro I was pleased to discover things has also improved there too. At my first opportunity I walked down the very same bottle shop that I had spotted the Cerveja Musa 2 years previous. As I walked in I immediately spotted a large fridge full of all types of alcohol, wine, port, cava and most importantly 1 shelf dedicated to Cerveja Musas’ four beers and four other craft beers from another Portuguese craft brewer +351.

An Oat Stout, Black IPA, 2 different IPAs, Red Session IPA, Pale Ale and a Vienna Lager, truly spoiled for choice. The fact that they were now refrigerated also showed that retailers were taking more care over the beer they were selling, ensuring quality form brewery to glass!

Things had also improved in the hotel, the bar which on the previous occasion had Superbock lager on draught and Superbock Stout in bottles now had a 6 pump keg system with Superbocks’ ‘1927’ craft beer series available. This included a Munich Dunkel, Bengal IPA and Weiss Bier as well as Superbock Stout on draught.

Over the next couple of days I made it my goal to try all of the Cerveja Musa and +351 330ml bottles. My first choice was Cerveja Musas’ ‘Red Zeppelin’, a red session IPA. I paid for it and made my way down the beach before cracking it open. It was delightful, dried fruits and malty caramel on the nose which complemented a refreshing toffee, fig, raisin and subtle citrus taste

Later that day we visited one of our favourite bars, located in the cliffs with stunning views over the Atlantic Ocean, to my surprise I spotted some more Cerveja Musa in the fridge there……result!

This time a thought I’d try the Oat Stout, again it was fantastic. Full of flavour, an espresso coffee and milk chocolate aroma with similar taste, it was certainly as good as stouts from the likes of Bristol Beer Factory and Left Handed Giant.

The +351 beers were equally as impressive with the Black IPA being a particular highlight. It’s hoppy, smokey, roasted coffee and cacao flavour proved to be very refreshing.

The icing on the cakes was the discovery of Dos Santos, a small craft brewery located on a golf resort just outside the town. They appeared to be relevantly new, focused on light fruity beers following the principles of the Reinheitsgebot. During the first few days of the holiday I had noticed a few bars had their beers on keg but despite checking most shops in the village I couldn’t find any of their bottles for sale. Therefore on the third day of the holiday we decided to take a trip up to the brewery and taproom so we could sample then for ourselves.

After a short taxi ride we arrived at the Dos Santos brewery and taproom in a beautiful location overlooking a vineyard and the hills behind. The brewery had a lovely modern feel, including a bright shiny stainless steel brewing kit, a fully mechanised bottling line and a light vibrant taproom and terrace area which made the most of the views. We were greeted by the friendly staff who sat us down on a large table in the window so we could really enjoy the views.

We ordered our first beers, they offered a core range which include a Pilsner, Lager, Pale and Amber Ale. They also offered a seasonale beer, which on this occasion was a Watermelon pale.

I opted for the Amber, whilst my wife chose the Watermelon Pale.

The Amber arrived and was extremely fresh and chilled with just the right level of carbonation. It had beautifully fresh citrus and dried fruits aroma with a crisp orange, sweet toffee and fig taste.

After enjoying the Amber I swiftly moved on to try the pale ale and the pilsner, both were equally as crisp and refreshing with lovely malt driven flavours.

The taproom had a simple menu which offered an interesting selection of fresh tapas. My wife and I went for a sharing plate, including local olives, breads, meat and cheeses which complemented the beers excellently. As I sat there sipping the pilsner looking out over the vineyards it suddenly dawned on me how far the Portuguese craft beer scene had developed over the relatively short time I had been visiting. Fresh local beer and fresh local food, this was a far cry from our first visit when the beer never complemented the food, and was nothing more than mass produced and flavourless! Craft beer had defiantly arrived!

In my view an important part of taking a holiday is relaxing and enjoying the finer things in life, sadly the first time I visited Carvoeiro everything was excellent apart from the beer. Now however even on this small part of The Algarve a public demand and an industry passion has resulted in change. Now quality and choice are now in charge. If this is the story in just one small part of Portugal in sure the cases is very similar right along the Atlantic. The future looks promising!