Having spent 5 months in this beautiful city🌇 let me explore most of the craftbeer bars Barcelona has to offer. I made the sacrifice and spent hours🕑 investigating local beer so you don’t have to. And if you’re not a fan of craft beer🍺 and want to know where to get a cheap pint, just scroll down a little. I don’t want to overwhelm you with bars, so I’m keeping the list fairly small, but be sure these are the best🏅. First let’s see the craft stuff.
My definitely most favorite part of Barcelona to get a craft beer. It’s in Eixample just above Placa Catalunya. This triangle name is made up by me so you won’t find it on Google like this, but search for these three bars instead:
📍Location: Carrer del Consell de Cent, 261, 08011 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: garagebeer.co
One of the first bars I went to and I loved it from the beginning. I don’t think I ever mentioned it, but I always sit on the bar. First of you get the best view on the beautiful tap list, second you get to talk to the barman about their beers and third you meet similarly thinking people sitting next to you. What I really like about Garage is the choice of music they’re playing. It circles around rock music from the end of last century. And you can drink beer from a catalan traditional glass pitcher – porron.
They have around 10 beers on tap and the prices range from 3.5 € for lagers to 7 € for the darkest stouts (all pints).
📍Location: Carrer de Casanova, 69, 08011 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: brewdog.com
I can’t decide if I like BrewDog more than Garage or it’s the other way. BrewDog is bigger and all tables are positioned around the bar so wherever you sit you feel like being in the center. Garage is a long hallway with a sitting room at the back which makes it more difficult to find a free spot on the bar. In BrewDog you can play Jenga if you want to win a free beer over your drinking buddy or just make your date more fun.
Usually I was doing Craft Sundays and I went to BrewDog as the last bar because they closed a little later than the others. A special shout-out goes to their very tasty stout called Jet Black Heart. Possibly my most favorite beer in the whole Barcelona.
The beer offer is really large, usually around 20 beers on tap which includes their own as well as guest beers. Prices are around 5-6 € per pint.
📍Location: Carrer de Muntaner, 55, 08011 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: biercab.com
My least favorite of these three, but maybe it’s just because they’re a little more expensive. The bar is very modern and they have computer screens instead of the usual tap list blackboard. And because I can’t say much more about this bar I need to add one more that is just 4 blocks away which destroys the triangle, but it’s an awesome bar – CocoVail Beer Hall.
📍Location: Carrer d’Aragó, 284, 08009 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: cocovailbeerhall.com
CocoVail is a US-themed craftbeer bar with a great international atmosphere. First time I went there was just before Christmas when they were throwing a Christmas party and it was full of friendly & happy people. Really nice atmosphere with American-pie-like songs.
There are a lot of events happening throughout the week which you can find on their website. And I also have to mention their tasty chicken wings they make! On Mondays one is 50 cents which makes it irresistible.
They have 24 beers on tap with prices around 6 € for a pint.
This is what happens when the owners are truly passionate about what they do 👍
The streets of Barrio Gótico hold so much history. I totally loved walking through these dark alleys full of bars, cafés and restaurants. Check out this El Raval Detour if you’re interested in the history of Barcelona.
📍Location: Carrer de la Bòria, 17, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: catbarcat.com
The very first craftbeer bar I went to when I touched down in Barcelona. It is a fairly small bar in the heart of the Gothic Quarter with a British owner.
They have all beers for 5 € price policy which makes it very friendly!
📍Location: Carrer del Paradís, 4, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: craftbarcelona.com
I made a special bond with this bar when I went here a few weeks before I moved to Barcelona with my hometown party crew when we came to Barcelona for the BBF. When you enter, you find yourself next to a bar with Czech Pilsner Urquell and Kozel on the tap. Plus a good number of craft beers. However I prefer the downstairs bar which has different beers from the upper one, but that’s not the reason why I like it. The reason is that there’s a little stage for live performances and there are different event types happening each day of week. Check out their website to know when to come if you like stand-up comedy, jam sessions, live karaoke or just a band concert. Prices are similar to the other bars.
📍Location: Palau del Mar, Plaça de Pau Vila, 1, 08039 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: blacklab.es
BlackLab is not exactly in the gothic part, but it’s just outside – next to the port. If you’re planning your Sunday evening stop right now. Come here after 6 pm, you get all beers for 5 €. I really like their price policy. Normally you pay 6 € for every beer they have on the tap whih is not so good, but with the Sunday happy hours it’s 5 €! And you can get their loyalty card and collect stamps to get one beer for free.
Sitting on a bar is not that enjoyable here though. You’ll be much better off taking one of the armchairs in front of the huge glass walls so you can feel like sitting at home yet still get craft beer and watch people pass by on the street. If you get bored you can choose to play board games that they have there available for free.
Being in Barcelona for so many days made me wonder into more traditional bars and pubs, especially when there’s so many of them. Spanish mass-produced beer is generally not so good, but if you go out with your amigos, it’s perfectly ok to drink. If you want to get drunk quickly, aim for sangria that they have in almost every bar. Otherwise you can usually choose between San Miguel, Moritz and Estrella beers. I would rate them in this order with San Miguel being the best. All of the following bars are near the center of Barcelona.
📍Location: Carrer de les Sitges, 5, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: ovellanegrabcn.com
The most favorite pub, period. I was not happy at all the first time I went there and me and my amigos left one minute after getting there. The reason was because there was a huge waiting line in front of the bar and it would take at least 30 minutes to get a drink. We came at the wrong time (around 11) and didn’t know a little trick I’m about to tell you.
But first a little about the pub. It’s a rustic tavern located down a dark alley in El Raval neighborhood, just off La Rambla. Inside you’ll find large wooden tables and a huge fireplace in the wall. Apart from drinking you can play the amazing old metal table football, which I played for the first time in Ibiza and it became an iconic Spanish thing for me. This bar is very famous among students and is usually full of them. But you can find a free spot almost every time, but sometimes you’ll have to join someone at one of the bigger tables.
The trick: There are a few guys in Ovella t-shirts running around the bar and if you catch them you can order drinks right with them. Not only you don’t have to queue the line, but they also bring the drinks to you.
Pro tip: For the most fun experience order a 5-litre bucket of beer or sangria.
Beer costs a little below 3 € (even less during happy hours) and the last thing to mention is the free popcorn you can get at the bar as many times you like, which makes it very easy to drink one beer after another.
📍Location: Carrer de Milans, 5, 08002 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: facebook.com/manchesterbar
Manchester was a love at first sight. Red lighting, old hits on radio, comfy couches, glass tables where you can put your photo or favorite sticker under the glass forever and most importantly – Heineken pint for 2.50 €!! (only until 22:30). This one time I got so excited that I drank 10 pints in a few hours 😆
📍Location: Carrer dels Tallers, 68, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: facebook.com/NevermindBcn
As a skater boy I favored this bar immediately. Underground bar with skate decks as a decoration everywhere and Amstel Oro (darker amber lager) or Moritz for 2.5 € on tap. There is even a skating pool at the back room where guys skate and as the night falls in it changes into another place to sit and drink.
📍Location: Carrer d’Aribau, 154, 08036 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: facebook.com/lecyrano
This is the place to go if you don’t care about what you drink and just want to get drunk before going to one of the many Barcelona nightclubs. They open at 10:30 pm and it’s very simple inside and even feels not nice at first. It is just a big room with cheap tables which get full of young people so you can’t even hear your own voice. The secret is that they give you an empty tall glass, a bottle of alcohol of your choice and a bottle of soft drink of your choice in your hand and the rest is up to you. So what you do is that you pour the empty glass to the top with the content of the alcohol bottle and take the soft drink with you. You pay 4 € for the cheapest shitty vodka, but it’s very efficient. They also have unlimited popcorn available, which is the reason we started calling it ‘The Popcorn bar’ with my amigos.
📍Location: Carrer de Sant Pau, 65, 08001 Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: not available, really old-school bar
The oldest bar in Barcelona where famous Barcelona guys used to drink a century ago. They sell only bottles of beer and the prices are not nice. But if you go there, you want to order an absinthe, fire up a sugar cube above it, get yourself fired up and leave to a more beer-friendly bar.
📍Location: Barceloneta Beach, Barcelona, Spain
🔗 Website: not available, it’s a beach
There’s nothing better than to buy six-packs of cold or warm shit miguel, crapstrella or morshitz in nearby paki supermercado and drink in on the beach 😂 And if you go exactly where the map pin points, you’ll be very close to public toilets.
Viliam
Good news for my international friends! All new tales will be in English from now on. And I’m shifting my focus a little. As I started traveling more 🗺, making international friends🕺 and visiting new craft-beer bars🌃, the time has come to adapt my tales to this new lifestyle🍻. I will no longer try to educate you guys, but I’ll rather document my travels for world-beer exploration. I’ll give you tips on bars I like, beers I drink and locations I visit.
Dejte si přes květnový sváteční dny nějaký řemeslný pivo. Inspirovat se můžete v mém čtvrtém Příběhu Řemeslných Piv, kde vám předtavím 8 českých i zahraničních speciálů.
Příběh nejen o vaření piva je publikován! Jestli vás zajímá, jak se pivo vyrábí a proč má tak unikátní a hustou pěnu, pusťte se do čtení.
Na instagramu jsem začal nepravidelně vydávat kratší náhodné příběhy pivního poznání. Jsou to příběhy ze života. Odehrávají se převážně v zajímavých ‘craftbeer’ pivnicích nebo v pohodlí domova u krbíčku.
Představuji Vám nové stránky o pivu! Ale nejen o pivu! Jak čas plyne, přibývají nové příběhy … Těšte se. Začínáme prvním příběhem Začátku.
Checknuto první pivo na Untappd! Byl to budějovický ležák Budweiser. Jen škoda, že to nebyl nějaký zajímavý ALE.
Více o mně se dozvíš v prvním příběhu TALE 1:
Tale About The BeginningENGLISH: I started this blog in Czech, but switched to English after the 4th TALE. I won't translate the original Tales, but you can follow my beer journey from the start on Instagram or Untappd.