Anyone visiting Gibraltar may be surprised to know that the British overseas territory doesn’t produce or serve traditional real ales, such as you would find in any typical English pub. This is because producing this British beverage is almost impossible on the Rock, due to a lack of water and space to grow hops and other ingredients. To be fair, there is a Gibraltar bottled beer, but this is made by the Mount Murray Brewing Company on the Isle of Man, who grow hops in the Botanical Gardens before shipping them over to Gibraltar.
Just over 200 years ago there was a brewery in Gibraltar at Europa Point (next to Nun’s Well) known as Brewery Yard, which used to supply beer for the troops. Unfortunately it was demolished in 1805 and converted into military barracks, leaving the rocky outcrop devoid of the tasty tipple. However, real ale fans living in the Sotogrande area might want to pay a little visit to the Fabrica de Cerveza Kettal (Kettal Beer Brewery) just around the corner in Palmones, Los Barrios. Here a small, dedicated team make six different types of English style ale including: El Trillo (the threshing board), La Espiga (the ear of corn), La Fanega (the measure of grain) and even several seasonal variations.
Beer aficionados will be pleased to hear the ales are made to UK standards and they manage to produce 7.5 barrels (1,225 litres) of beer a day. Naturally all this talk about breweries is probably making you thirsty, so it’s worth noting that they also run a bar called the ‘Tap Room’, which is open from 12pm to 4pm almost every day of the year, should you wish to quench your thirst. Although this is the first microbrewery in living memory in the Province of Cádiz (it opened in August 2010), it must be said that the beer is kegged and served chilled, under pressure. The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) would not approve of course, but the real ale would not survive the temperatures here in the south of Spain were they to be stored in the traditional wooden casket.
However, don’t let that stop you visiting this fascinating little brewery for a pint of the brown stuff.
By Jackie Cruz - Manifesto ·