‘I flew to Spain for a beer – seems it is in my native and doubtless yours too’

Pub regulars and lagers lovers may have noticed a new kid on the block over the past year and if sales figures are anything to go by, you’ve likely gone in for a closer look… and taste.

Keen to prove it had not simply emerged from nowhere in an obscure British town, Cruzcampo bosses invited your Daily Star to find out what it’s all about. Who knows, had the Spanish Armada turned out differently we may have been sipping the Sevillian tipple with our al fresco tapas for a whole lot longer.

Riding the Spanish beer wave of Molson Coors’ UK-brewed “young and innovative” Madri, Cruzcampo has proven a hit in shops and almost 10,000 pubs alike. One of those, it turns out is a mere 100 yards away from my front door. I know, lucky me. But that didn’t stop us investigating the story behind the brand wrestling our booze money away from the lagers we know and love.

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And where better than its home city of 120 years, Seville?

When I say I was headed for one beer… obviously I didn’t mean just one pint, to get a full sense of the stuff it would have been remiss of me not to, you know, properly get a taste for it. Drinking is a bit different in Seville, thanks in no small part to the weather. In fact, it’s the warmest city in continental Europe which you may or may not be surprised to learn played inspiration to its brewing process.

Under the summer sun of 1904, brothers Tomás and Roberto Osborne set about creating a beer for Spain’s warm southern climate. As far as they were concerned, it was all about whipping up a drink that keeps its flavour at a super cool refreshing temperature.

Snaps of chilled lagers have become such a phenomenon for holidaying Brits, that a Facebook page dedicated to them alone is thriving. According to Irene Pascual Camacho, however, most beers can lose their flavour when served so cold. But you guessed it –the Sevillian lager bucks that trend thanks to good old science.

Everyone knows beer tastes better in the sun as this weekend reminded us but for I for one had no idea just how much an impact food can have on a pint. I sat down for lunch at Cruzcampo HQ and paired with each course was a different beer specifically chosen to bring out the best in my grub, and vice versa.

And it’s good news for Brits as the straightforward and original Cruzcampo is apparently a perfect tipple to wash down our fish and chips. The optimum combination for Irene though? “Squid is fresh and people like it with Cruzcampo because it cleans your palate,” she told the Daily Star. “The freshness of the beer cleans your mouth. If you mix with a dark lager it’s not a good combination but for me you always have to taste, because sometimes people like different things.”

Irene said: “The plate changes the taste always, some plates generate drinkability and some plates don’t. It’s not an exact way to determine the marinade because a complex form because maybe I tell you this plate doesn’t marinade very well with this beer but if we use different spice, it changes the flavour so you have to taste always before selecting.

“I have my mind crazy when I taste a different marinade between a Bloody Mary with a Cruzcampo because Bloody Mary made here in this school, they use Tabasco and the spice, and when we drink Cruzcampo the bitterness is higher so it cleans your mouth.”

This fountain of beer and food knowledge was raining down on us as we tried four of the brewery’s creations varying in alcohol strength and ingredients. And instead of carelessly swigging them down one by one, I deployed the three steps to drinking beer Irene shared. Look, smell, taste. How visible are my fingers through the glass? Give it a quick sniff, swirl it round and then inhale again. Then finally the best bit, allowing the sweet nectar to wrap around your taste buds.

Irene continued: “For example, with the IPA the bitterness is higher so you can marinade too but with Cruzcampo you can create a marinade with a Bloody Mary. You will taste two different things in one part, the Bloody Mary then the beer and then you drink the Bloody Mary and then the beer and it’s like woah.”

I’ve since returned with every intention of ordering snacks in while out for a session with pals to play with the pints’ flavour, but you know what they say about the best laid plans…

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