(beer develops in Spain)

Spain does not traffic on the reputation of its beers, although plenty of them deserve it.  Rather, Spanish cuisine plays up the underappreciated wines.  It is true that wine has had a much bigger presence on the Spanish table and in the Spanish tavern for the last few centuries, but beer has a much longer history in the peninsula than one might suspect.

Before Roman settlement, the Iberian peoples made a sort of "beer juice" from the same grain they used to make bread, at only around 2% alcohol.  Even after the promotion of wine as the drink of choice in Roman Hispania, beer continued to be made in small quantities.  Even in the areas of Muslim domination non-Muslims would be allowed to produce and consume beer and wine (paying the proper amount in tax, one would assume).

"Modern" beer is said to be the gift of Charles V, a man raised in the north of Europe, where beer had a much higher profile.  He brought master brewers from the low countries to make beer for himself, although we might imagine he would share with dinner guests with pride.  The royal patronage did not, however, create much popularity for the beverage, and the few factories that were established petered out with lack of interest in their product and high interest in their profits as sources of tax revenue to fuel the wars of subsequent kings.

Like so many other things, drinking preferences were subject to change in the Industrial Revolution.  The numbers of workers packed into the cities, working hours in stuffy, hot factory buildings, would favor a cold drink over a warm one, and that cool beer was made possible through new processes and modern methods of food preservation.  Certainly, the "chato" or little drink of wine did not go out of favor, but the "caña" or little beer definitely gained its solid footing through the consumption by 19th century tavern-goers.

The most successful breweries, that is the ones still active today, were not founded by Spanish people, interestingly enough.  Casimiro Mahou was from Lorraine, cousins August Kuenstmann and Joseph Damm Alsatians, and the southern winner of the beer race Cruzcampo was founded by the liquor making Osborne family, originally from England.  In fact, among the big names of our time, only San Miguel, now owned by Mahou, was formed by Spanish hands, and those hands were in the Philippines at the time.  Spanish industrial beer promoted itself as refreshing and as good in quality as its German counterparts, relying on similar flavor profiles that became popular in other countries' industrial beer industries - light lagers with a touch of bitterness.  And cold, cold, cold bottles!

In the 20th century, Spain became a destination for tourists seeking sun and fun, many of which also wanted the cold beers they relaxed with at home.  It was another big push for Spanish industrial beer, but foreign influences would also eventually start the craft beer industry.  Despite the presence of beer in the peninsula for centuries, there is not really a culture of small breweries or local brews as there is in other European countries.  The craft revolution would come at the hands of those who had enjoyed the bright, snappy and undeniably modern IPAs of the US and the local real ales of English pubs.