Which are the best-selling beers in Spain?

Julio Cerezo - Beer Sommelier
Director of Sabeer Beer Academy

Perhaps you have sometimes wondered which are the best-selling beers in Spain, and you probably still do not have a definite answer. The reason why consumers do not have easy access to the sales ranking is that brewing companies do not usually provide this type of information in a disaggregated way. Instead, they group together the total sales of the different references in their catalogue.

Thus, we know, for example, that in 2019 the podium by volume of production in our country was headed by Mahou San Miguel with a production of almost 13 million hectolitres, followed by Grupo Damm and Heineken España, with more than 10 million each, according to data from Cerveceros de España, an organisation that groups together the companies in the sector.

However, we do not know how these figures are divided between the different brands owned by each company. Despite this, it is easy to deduce that the best-selling varieties within

each group are those that we can find most frequently in supermarkets and catering establishments throughout our country, and these are none other than those we identify with the Pilsentype: bright looking, golden beers with low fermentation (Lager) and an alcohol strength of around 5%.

On this basis, we can announce the candidates for this list of best-selling beers in Spain, starting with the references of this style produced by the three companies mentioned above: Mahou Clásica, Mahou 5 Estrellas and San Miguel Especial for the first; Estrella Damm for the second, and Cruzcampo Especial, Amstel Original and Heineken for the third. To these, we should add Estrella Galicia and Ámbar Especial, belonging to other large national producers. Classifying them by turnover within the group is rather more complex, as many variables come into play. In short, we know which are the best-selling beers in Spain, but not the position of each one in the ranking.

And what happens with the rest of the beers that do not fit this best-seller profile? Everything seems to indicate that the consumer trend in Spain is allowing the entry of other beer styles, thus broadening the offer available in bars and shops and, above all, the possibility for consumers to explore and choose. 

Although still far from the figures of the popular "pale lagers", other references from the big brewers (more intense and darker lagers, wheat beers...) and the irruption of craft breweries with their enormous variety of recipes and styles(IPA, Pale Ale, Strong Ale, Stout…) offer us a much more colourful panorama than we had a few years ago.

In any case, as with the sales - or downloads - of a book, an album or a film, the position in the ranking of best-selling beers does not make a liquid better or worse. There are beers whose sensory profiles are more accessible to the general public, and others that may be more distant from the usual aromas and flavours, and therefore require a certain curiosity and adaptation of taste.

As a beer sommelier, I invite you to explore these other styles that are still a minority in our country, from time to time, while remaining faithful to the ones you have always liked. There is an occasion for every beer and your palate must decide which one you fancy at any given moment.