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Hi,
Holiday 2009 at the Costa Brava in Spain has become history.
Spain is definitely not a beer country. Mainly Pilsener is offered, and this for thirst quenching purposes.
Pils examples I vastly noticed: Estrella Damm, Mahou, San Miguel, Cruzcampo, Heineken, Amstel pils.
A deep frozen half litre of Estrella Damm really can do wonders !
Looking for dark beers is a tougher job, but they can be found. Asking around at bars nearly always gives negative responses, so you really have to look for them at supermarkets, superettes, drink shops, etc..
Spanish dark beers are mainly lower body Stout beers. An example of a mass produced dark Spanish Stout is Mahou negra.
Some efforts are done in Spain to raise some smaller artisanal breweries. In most of those cases you will find dark beers too.
Examples in Catalonia: Cervesa artesana Guineu, Cerveza del Montseny, Llúpuls i Llevats, Cerveses La Gardènia.
Looking for Belgian beer will succeed when attending the busy coastal touristic cities. Lloret de Mar or Tossa de Mar to name a couple.
ABInBev and Alken-Maes beers are frequently noticed. Belgian beers like Leffe, Hoegaarden, Stella-Artois, Jupiler, Grimbergen, Maes. I also noticed Duvel, Trappist Chimay, Trappist Orval, and even some bry. Van Steenberge beers.
Surprised to see that Judas and Grimbergen Cuvee de l'Hermitage are heavily pushed in Spain. Great beers by the way, and surprisingly not that popular here in Belgium. Also suprised to notice that the Belgian Beer purchase prices at bars are around 3.00 to 3.50 Euro's, which is equal to Belgium !
Looking for Belgian beer pubs is a different story ! Belgian beer bars are nearly unexistent at the Costa Brava.
The Costa Brava has a great beer bar worth the try. It is called The Drunk Monk, and is run by an emigrated Belgian, Sven Bosch.
A remarkable initiative which results in probably the best Belgian Beer Bar in Spain.
To be precise, if that bar were to be located in Belgium, I would rate it a top-5 Belgian Beer Bar.
Yes, I was stunned when my wife Katrien and myself visited a couple of weeks ago.
Here's an impression....
Address: Local 3 - Via europa 30, 08303 Mataró, Spain
+34 616 047 170 Get directions
Open Mon-Thu 6pm-2am; Fri-Sat 6pm-2:30am
Be aware that The Drunk Monk can't be seen from the street. This because the bar is located at the back side of the flat building.
An outer terrace is installed in front.
A green park is next to the pub, and makes it possible to have a relaxing walk.
Also notice that Mataró is not at all touristic. The city is a big coastal suburb city of Barcelona, and really too big to do by feet.
If you want tourism, there's the possibility to travel to Barcelona and touristic coastal cities like Canet de Mar or Calella, which is about 15 km further.
Moving closer we see a beautiful abbey style decoration.
The whole abbey concept make this bar very inviting.
From tap: Maes Pils, Kwak, Hoegaarden Wit, Chouffe Houblon, and Gauloise Ambrée.
Beer of the week: Derdermonde Tripel at reduced 3.40 Euro's.
.... and more than 200 beers from bottle !
Let's enter....
Immediately we see that this bar is real BELGIAN. 
The lightings are small copper brewing vessels. Great details.
A view towards the bar.
A view towards the side room.
An amazing collection of Belgian breweriana are exposed.
Both pictures were taken around 6.30pm. So, at that time not that many people present because the bar just opened at 6pm.
But.... this will change gradually when evening evolved. At around 11pm, the bar was full-packed and VERY busy.
A fraction of one wall.
The Drunk Monk has its own housebeer.
This beer is brewed at the 'Proef'brewery in co-operation with brewmaster Dany de Smet from Beer Firm Slaapmutske .
We gave the Drunk Monk beer a try, and were nicely surprised by its qualities. Fruity, malty, and perfect hopped.
A 6.4 vol% amber-blond beauty. The perfect beer to start the evening....
From tap: Pauwel Kwak and Chouffe Houblon Dobbelen IPA Tripel.
The Chouffe Houblon was poured into that beautiful Urthel glass. Some people would call this blasphemous :)
Very popular at The Drunk Monk is that portion of "cheese gratinated" nachos (3.90 Euro).
Goes very well with the beers, and was vastly ordered by many customers.
Spanish artisanal beers like this dark Montserrat from Cervesa artesana Guineu were tasted, and considered good quality. Spanish Stout. It even reminded me on a Imperial Stout but that bit less body to it. Hoppy, floral nose too. Great brew.
More Belgian beauties are available: Smisje + Dubbel IPA.
A hoppy Belgian IPA made by bry. Smisje. Folks, this is top-quality!
Note that The Drunk Monk is a 200+ beers bar, and the prices are really quite affordable, ranging from 2.50 Euro towards 4.00 Euro.
Sven Bosch - Owner The Drunk Monk
Sven, my felicitations !!!
The Drunk Monk is one hell of a fantastic Belgian Beer Bar.
It has everything to be on top of everybody's beer bar list.
Great Burgundian atmosphere, wonderful decorations, more than 200 Belgian quality beers, democratic prices, friendly and extreme fast service, etc.....
Address: Local 3 - Via europa 30, 08303 Mataró, Spain
+34 616 047 170 Get directions
Open Mon-Thu 6pm-2am; Fri-Sat 6pm-2:30am
Cheers,
Filip
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Belgian Beer 
