La Catarina Craft Beer Bar

by Morris Bishop
(San Pedro de Alcantara)

We were attending an art exhibition in Benahavis where, on one of the stands was a Guitar and lute maker, producing the most beautiful instruments.

We got into conversation with a visiting musician, Filipe Madrid’ who mentioned that he was performing in a bar in north San Pedro on Friday of that week, with what I thought he said was a concert of Baroque music, and we said we would come along and listen to him play.

We duly arrive at the bar and ordered some drink and a snack, and when Philipe started to play I realized that I had misheard the genre, and that it was Bar Rock, Western and Jazz! He was a superb artist and his music was much enjoyed.

Behind the La Catarina Bar is an artisan brewery, commercially producing a range of beers that they supply to Restaurants and hotels in the area. We asked if we could see the brewery, and were fortunate to have a conducted tour given by Ignacio Garvayo who is one of two owners.

He took us through the whole process, starting with the milling of the barley, on to the mashing, where the grain is soaked in hot water to convert the starches into sugars. Then the rinsing in hot water and separating of the liquid from the grain, that is discarded. After boiling and addition of the hops the liquid is transferred to the Fermentation vessel for four to five weeks where the CO2 and alcohol that is released from the yeast/sugar, react. Under pressure the CO2 is eventually re absorbed into the liquid as carbonization.

This is an over simplification, of what is a highly technical operation with many differing grains being used to create the range of beers that are brewed here. The distribution casks that they use are hydro pneumatic vessels with The beer inside a plastic bag that is within the stainless steel vat to prevent oxidization, and the beer is extracted for use by introducing air pressure between the bag and the vat.

The two beers I sampled were La Catarina Golden Mile Blond Ale 5.1% proof and La Catalina Sierra Blanca, American Wheat 5.3% proof I am not a beer aficionado so I would only describe both as beautifully smooth and full of flavour. Both Skander Allani, the other half of the duo, and Ignacio, offer conducted tours.

They boast about 30 other makes and types of beer, some of them with over 7% proof, and a range of bar snacks
We found this a fun place to be.

Visit their web site www.lacatarinacraft.com to see whats going on or call
them on 952818185 or 696006389

To find them head north up the Avda. De los Girasoles in Nueva Andalucia from the A7 just pass the Casino Andalucia Plaza hotel toward the La Campana Poligino. They are No 6 in Calle Gabriel Celaya, Nave 18

Bishlin marks:…go and enjoy

DATE: February 2015
LOCATION: La Campana