Portuguese craft beer
Craft Beer in Portugal
The history of beer in Portugal has its roots in pre-Roman times, when the Lusitanians brewed barley beer. After the Roman conquest, wine became the most popular drink in Portugal, displacing beer almost completely. Beer would not return until the 17th century, where there is news of a place called Patio da Cerveja, near Lisbon. Already in the 19th century, industrialization started the modern history of beer in Portugal with the foundation in 1836 of the Fábrica da Cerveja da Trinidade and in 1934 of the Sociedad Central de Cervejas. The latter would eventually become the Sagres brand, which, together with Superbock, dominates the Portuguese market today. Superbock would also emerge from the embryo of the CUFP in Porto. By 1974 there were only two major brewing groups left, Centralcer and Unicer.
The craft beer movement would not gain momentum until 2014, with breweries such as Dois corvos, Oitava Colina, Mean Sardine or Cerveja Letra, supported by other emerging brands such as Passarola, Post Scriptum, Burguesa ou Colossus.
Portuguese beer brands
Musa
Musa is a Portuguese brewery founded in 2016 by Nuno Carrilho and Bruno Melo. Bruno had already been living in California, where he got in touch with craft brewing, and he worked with Nuno in a consultancy firm. During a work travel, they talked about changing their life and starting a brewery. Nuno then decided to make a trip to East Asia, but when he got back, they decided to make it happen.
Then they started looking for an experience brewer, but after a two month trip around Portugal and Spain they couldn´t find one, so they finally found one through ProBrewer, and online site. After many interviews, the chosen one was Nick Rosich, an American brewer from Pennsylvania. They started as gipsy brewers, but now they have opened their own space at Portuguese beer quarter in Marvila.
Their labels are usually parodies of rock music celebrities, like Frank Apa, Mick Lager or Baltic Sabbath.
Go to Musa