Looking for the best Portuguese beers? You’ve come to the right place!
Whether you’re looking to discover the latest creations of Portuguese craft breweries or whether you’re looking for the famous Super Bock and Sagres Portuguese beers, we have what you need!
We’ll start deep dive into the best Portuguese beers right now !
Are you ready? Vamos lá!
The most known Portuguese beer: the Super Bock
Super Bock beer is one of the must-tries when it comes to Portuguese beer.
Indeed it is difficult to talk about Portuguese beer without talking about the Super Bock! And for good reason: Super Bock has been the market leader in the portuguese beer market since 1992.
Moreover it is probably the most visible Portuguese beer abroad and therefore the best known in the world.
The Portuguese Super Bock beer was created in 1927. It really developed in the sixties when it started to be distributed in Lisbon.
The classic Super Bock is a lager-type beer, very light and particularly refreshing. It is the one you see in the picture.
In addition the Super Bock brewery also brews other beers like the alcohol-free beer Super Bock or the Super Bock Stout, which was a huge success in Portugal!
The Portuguese beer Sagres
After the Super Bock, let’s talk about its main competitor: the Portuguese beer Sagres. After that I promise you that we will talk about the Portuguese craft breweries.
Sagres beer is considered the beer of Lisbon. The brewery was founded in 1934 in Vila Franca de Xira, a small town near Lisbon.
The name of the Sagres brewery comes from a city located in the southwest of Portugal, which has nothing to do with a beer mainly distributed in Lisbon!
Sagres is the second most sold beer in Portugal and the most distributed in the world.
Their Classica beer is 4.8% by volume and is a rather light and sparkling lager type beer. Some cereal aromas stand out.
Sagres beer is also known for sponsoring the Portuguese soccer championship and the Portuguese national team.
Portuguese craft beer: Dois Corvos
We are now moving on to a more confidential brewery but whose beers are excellent!
The Dois Corvos brewery is a portuguese craft brewery which allows the development of the craft beer movement in Portugal!
It was a very good surprise to discover this Portuguese brewery and its delicious beers.
The Dois Corvos brewery is one of the breweries that reinvent Portuguese beer by offering new styles of beers such as IPAs, stouts or Pale Ale.
We advise you to taste their Creature IPA beer or their Finisterria Imperial Porter. You can buy their beers online on the website of Saveur bière.
For all those who want to discover Portuguese craft beer, the Dois Corvos brewery is a great option!
Mean Sardine Brewery
Yet another Portuguese beer from the craft beer movement and which participates in the revival of beer in Portugal.
The story of the Mean Sardine brewery is the story of three friends from the town of Ericeira located on the coast 35 kilometers from Lisbon.
It is in this particularly touristy city that three childhood friends started in 2013 to brew well hopped beers that are very different from the traditional Portuguese beers.
I would like to emphasize again that I was personally surprised by the quality of Portuguese craft beers and by the rapid growth of craft beers in Portugal!
The Mean Sardine brewery was elected best brewery in Portugal in 2014 by Ratebeer.
We advise you to taste the following beers from the brewery :
– Ginja Ninja: A Stout type beer brewed with the excellent Dutch brewery De Molen.
– La Voragem : A Black IPA type beer with a powerful hoppy flavour and a rather chocolatey aftertaste.
Portuguese beer La Letra
Letra is another Portuguese beer brewed by the excellent brewery of the same name!
The Letra brewery was founded by two former chemical engineers Filipo Macieira and Francisco Pereira.
Filipo comes from Braga in Portugal and discovered the brewing culture during an Erasmus exchange in the Czech Republic.
Francisco is passionate about hoppy beer and is the brewer of the Letra beers.
The brewery exist since 2013 and brews organic beers. Each beer is named by a different letter.
Some of their beers are available on the site a little foam, we want to let you have a look!
The Sovina
After Lisbon, we head to Porto for the Portuguese beers the Sovina.
The Portuguese brewery Cerveja Sovina was one of the pioneers of the Portuguese craft beer and especially of the beer in Porto.
The brewery project started in 2009 when Albero Abreu started to partner with Armenio Martins and Pedro Sousa.
It is finally in 2011 that the first Sovina beers will be put on sale and with great success!
Unfortunately, we have not found a website where you can buy the Portuguese Sovina beer but we advise you to try them if you are near Porto.
The site of the Sovina brewery
Musa beers
Another excellent Portuguese beer and one of our favorite Portuguese IPA beers.
The Musa brewery was founded by Bruno and Nuno in Marvila. In addition to being passionate about beer, both of them are also passionate about music.
Therefore it’s no surprise that you can find artist names in some of their beers like the Mick Lager (a lager) or the Red Zeppelin (Red Ale) or their stout which is called Twist and Stout.
The Portuguese Musa beers that we advise you to taste are the following:
– Mick Lager: Excellent lager that combines the finesse of hops and cereal flavors.
– Twist and Stout : Excellent chocolate flavors for this very musical stout.
La Maldita Bohemian Pilsener
Another Portuguese beer that belongs to the craft beer movement: the Maldita!
The history of this brewery is linked to the travels of its founders who travelled the world to taste beautiful brewing creations.
In particular, they brew an excellent Bohemian Pilsner inspired by the Czech pilsners. An excellent Portuguese Pilsner type beer with modern flavours and the finesse of Czech hops.
To taste also their Robust Porter beers and their Barley Wine.
Unfortunately we did not find the Maldita beers online but it is located in Aveiro near the city of Porto.
The site of the Maldita brewery
To learn more about Maldita beer you can read the very good article of our colleagues from Topito.
The Coral
Coral beer is another Portuguese beer that cannot be ignored as it is the beer of the island of Madeira.
For those who don’t know, Madeira Island is an island that belongs to Portugal and soccer fans will know that it is the birth island of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Coral beer is a Portuguese beer that can be found in the rest of Europe.
It is a light and rather thirst-quenching Pilsner type beer. You will probably recognize cereal aromas and especially the sparkle and lightness of Pilsner beers.
La Fabrica
La Fabrica is a Portuguese craft beer that comes directly from the city of Porto.
The name Fabrica means Fabrica as you might have guessed.
In addition to brewing beers, La Fabrica is a brewpub where you can dine or lunch delicious Portuguese specialties.
Fabrica beers to discover :
– La Porter da Fabrica: A Porter type beer with 6% alcohol and 30 IBU. It is a beer with chocolate and caffeinated flavors. It will appeal to lovers of style.
– The Pilsner Fabrica: Our favorite. A refreshing pilsner with a beautiful hop flavor.
Oitava Colina Brewery
Probably one of the best breweries in Portugal: the Oitava COlina brewery! The name of the brewery means the eighth hill and is linked to the city of Lisbon.
The brewery is indeed located on the 8th hill of the city. But let’s talk about the essential: the excellence of these Portuguese beers!
If you are passing through Lisbon, this is without a doubt a brewery to visit and try.
Postscriptum Brewery
Another excellent Portuguese brewery that was one of the first craft breweries in Portugal. The brewery was founded by Pedro Sousa and is located in Trofa.
The beers are very often of a stout which are sometimes aged in Armagnac or whisky barrels.
The beers are excellent and particularly well balanced. If you like stout beers this is probably a great option!
Conclusion
You are now well informed about Portuguese beer. As you have understood in this article Portuguese beer is dominated by Super Bock and Sagres beer which are the two most sold Portuguese beers.
Coral beer is the beer of the island of Madeira and is also well distributed in Portugal.
In addition, for several years now we have seen the appearance of many Portuguese craft breweries which herald the revival of Portuguese beer.
In particular you can discover the breweries Dois Corvos or Mean Sardine which are on sale online on Saveur bière.
Finally if you are passing through Lisbon you can discover the Oitava Colina brewery. If you go to Porto we advise you to enter the Fabrica which brews an excellent Pilsner.
On the other hand if you are looking for Portuguese artisanal beers for your bar you can have a look at Original Beer which is the distributor of Portuguese artisanal beers in France!
If you want to learn more about beer, you can also discover the following articles :