What connection does wine have with craft beer?

Wine is the alcoholic beverage fermented from grape must. Ancient Mediterranean civilizations incorporated it into their diet thousands of years ago. Today, Spain enjoys an enviable wine culture. Indeed, some of the best wines in the world are produced in Spanish wineries. At first glance, you might expect the wine sector to be a competitor to craft beer. How can the beer sector turn this threat into an opportunity? The key lies in the local roots of craft beer and the possibilities it offers.

On the one hand, you can brew beers with grape must. This style is known as grape ale and consists of adding grape must to the malt wort to produce a joint fermentation. Of course, the final result is unique depending on the type of grape selected by the producer. It’s a way to stamp a local signature on the beer. The idea is to make the most of the uniqueness of the surroundings, creating a beer closely tied to its “terroir.” In fact, it allows for a wide range of beer types, from a “blonde” to a rich barley wine. The Catalan brewery Guineu, for example, produces both possibilities. This style, which seems so innovative, has actually been in development in Italy for several decades. Cervezas Ambar even went so far as to brew a kind of beer exclusively with grape must in the postwar period due to a lack of other supplies.

On the other hand, beers can be aged in barrels that previously contained wine. Although it may seem counterintuitive, there is a tradition in northern European countries of aging beer in Spanish wine barrels, especially in the United Kingdom and Belgium. In this way, the contribution of each barrel to each beer is unique, depending on the wine it previously held. In this area of development, the project by the Cádiz-based brewery Sherry Beer 15&30 stands out; they age all their beers, regardless of style (blonde, pale ale, IPA, dubbel, barley wine, and sour), in sherry wine barrels. In this sense, the process allows them to offer a unique and exclusive beer.

And if you really want to go all out, dare to try a hybrid tasting of wines and beers that pair well together. With the right selection, it can be a fantastic experience. Now that you know all the secrets of combining wine and beer, only the best part remains: tasting beers labeled “grape ale” and “wine barrel aged”!