There are no rules when it
comes to drinks with tapas - except that tapas bars in Spain only offer
free titbits with alcoholic drinks! Here are some beers,
wines, tips about sherries and a
recipe for Sangria.
Beers
Alhambra - a lager-style
beer brewed in Granada. Wonderfully malty with a slightly bitter
aftertaste. The tapas bars often have microbrewery-style
equipment to serve it: pipes with gauges built into them,
dropping down from the ceiling. Alhambra is available in litre
bottles outside of Spain: in the UK, Safeway's used to stock it
but don't any more. You can get it online - if you know of any
real-world stockists,
get in touch.
Cruzcampo - the beer of
Seville. Pilsner-style, lighter than Alhambra, and one of the
most popular beers in Spain. Not easy to get outside of Spain,
but there are increasing efforts to market it worldwide.
San Miguel - the
ubiquitous Spanish lager. Originally from the Philippines and
now also brewed in Malaga on the Costa del Sol. The brand is
owned by Mahou which also brews beers under its own name
in Spain. A refreshing lager which tastes better on draught than
in bottles (and better in the Spanish sunshine!).
Universally available.
Wines
Sherryis
Spain's prominent white wine, and there is a bewildering variety
of it. The Spanish drink it chilled as a table wine; outside Spain,
it is more usually served lukewarm as an aperitif. With tapas,
try a decent bottle of fino from Jerez (the sherry
capital of Spain). It's a dry, pale sherry that goes well with
food. Manzanilla is a well-known dry sherry made with a
grape of the same name and recommended with tapas by those in
the know. Amontillado and other medium sherries go well with more
robust dishes like soups, pâtés and strong cheeses.
Dark, sweet sherries really don't go with savoury snacks, but do
compliment sweets - try any sherry made from the pedro ximinez
grape if you have a sweet tooth. Serve it at room
temperature.
Find out more on the
official sherry site
or
this excellent page on the Beverage Testing Institute
site.
Cava is sparkling white
wine made by the champagne method, and represents remarkable
value for money both inside and outside Spain. In Spain, the
foremost popular brand is Freixenet, which is available
worldwide. In the UK, several supermarkets sell own-brand
cava's, all of them excellent.
Rioja
is the best-known marque of red wine. It's made from the
tempranillo grape, and must be grown in the Rioja region to
carry the official stamp. Mature tempranillo wines from outside
the region are regarded by many as being just as good, and
there's no doubt that when you buy a Rioja, you are paying
something for the name.
Also worthy of note are the red
wines from the Valdepenas area: they have a
long-established reputation for quality. You'll even find them
mentioned in Washington Irving's "Tales of the Alhambra"!
