If there's one word all tourists in Spain know, it's probably 'Cerveza'

I shall tell you a little about Estrella Galicia, and why I happen to think it rates as one of, if not the best of Spain’s domestically brewed lagers. The most famous Spanish lager is probably San Miguel, which all self-respecting British pissheads will know, is available in one litre bottles from Co-ops and Spars across the land and at a very reasonable price too. That’s because it costs around 1 Euro per litre here in Spain, and doesn’t taste particularly great. It’s bitter, thin and absolutely unpalatable unless you drink it at an arctic temperature, which is not always possible in Spain being that often the weather is as far from arctic as you can get. As I type this, it’s 7.20 in the evening and 36 degrees. You get the idea.

As I am currently residing in Seville, this leads us on to Cruzcampo. I once had the equivalent of four pints of this particularly nasty lager over the course of one evening and was spewing black bile by 2am. I don’t know if it was something I ate, but I will always associate Cruzcampo with crushing hangovers and blocked hostel basins. Which is a shame because it’s the beer you’re most likely to find here in Seville and indeed across much of the South of Spain

Mahou (pronounced ‘Mao’, as in chairman) is Madrid’s contribution to the Spanish beer market and for me, jostles with Estrella Galicia for the crown of best Spanish beer. This lager is also likely to give you a monumental headache come the morning, and the red-canned, 5-star variety certainly packs a punch. It reminds me of Stella a bit in its viscosity and syrupy nature and is truly a catch-up beer (A catch-up beer being one you would drink to catch up with friends who had started drinking before you). The weaker green-label Mahou is pleasant enough, but oddly, better in cans or litre bottles than on draught.

There are a couple of other national beer varieties- Barcelona has one (Estrella Damm), The Canary Islands have Dorada and there are a number of smaller brands such as Alhambra which are doing their best to break into the market with a wide variety of beers, ranging from classic blonde lager to dark, 'burnt-toast' beer. This aside, Estrella Galicia is still the best of the bunch. It’s particularly nice if you have it in the old Estrella de Galicia brewery in Cuatro Caminos in La Coruna and for me, it's the flavour of Northern Spain. The up-market, 1906 variety is even better and is often described as being herby and citrussy to taste.

Estrella is not a world beating lager, not compared with most German, Czech or Polish beers. It’s just, well, better than the rest of the slightly retarded Spanish beer family. Stronger, fuller, nuttier, thicker, maltier and tastier.