Iconic Breweries Of The World: Damm, Barcelona

You might be a little confused reading the words “iconic brewery” and then a name you maybe haven’t heard of, but trust me, you know Damm well – because Damm Brewery in Barcelona is the home of Estrella, one of the most recognisable beers on earth.

Big reveal, huh! Well, it gets even better. Damm is eligible for inclusion in this iconic brewery series because it is still family owned. There’s obviously a decent amount of private equity thrown in there – after all, this is a brewery whose smallest fermentation tank is a paltry 220,000 litres and who have the machinery to fill 100 bottles every two seconds – but it is independent, and has grown to be part of the very fabric of Catalunya, sponsoring everything from F.C. Barcelona to city-wide music festivals.

Estrella as a beer name, meaning “star” in both Spanish and Catalan, speaks for itself (stars are nice, and good, everyone like stars etc), yet the Damm name is under the radar. Its origins are simple – the founder of the brewery back in 1876, with his distinctly non-Spanish sounding name, was August Küntzmann Damm, and he was distinctly non-Spanish. Herr Damm came from the Alsace region along the French-German border, and brought German brewing sensibilities to a new environment. The prevalence of Estrella as their most popular beer follows the historical trend in many European countries, of a flagship beer name being more ubiquitous than the name of the brewery that makes it. Gold star for anyone who knew that already!

When it comes to the brewing process for Estrella and its offshoot beers, this differs from most other macro breweries in a few significant ways, helping forge its iconic status. Firstly, everything is done in-house – from growing their own barley, all the way up to bottling, the process is monitored 24/7 every step of the way. This ensures consistency across a seven month period from sowing seeds and ending, ideally, with you glugging it down – though obviously they can’t quite control how clean the tap lines (and your glass) will be when you’re saying Gracias while knocking back a couple of pints in a shitty central London pub.

Secondly, the reason you probably enjoy Estrella more than say, a Becks or a Carlsberg, is that there is a large quantity of rice used in the brewing process. Now on face value, this may not sound that appealing, because while rice is good with things like sushi and curry and beans and stuff like that, it’s not ideal when dropped into your pint. BUT, when you think about it, all of those dishes go particularly well with a beer, so maybe it does make sense. Anyway, that’s not actually the reason.

The reason is that rice in the process makes for a drier beer, in turn making it extra refreshing and moreish. Herr Damm popped over with his Deutsch vibes and crafted a German lager more in tune with the Spanish palate, and perfect for the Mediterranean climate. The beer is quite literally made for summer sipping (well, Spanish summer and the three hot days we get in the UK each year) and serves to transport you over to Catalunya (not literally, unless you drink an absolute shitload and spontaneously book a flight to Barca; it has happened). Most importantly, it won’t exhibit those cloying, metallic or starchy notes that most big-brewed lagers do, and while it isn’t preferable to a small batch pils from your local brewery, it’s certainly the best choice at a pub where the alternatives on offer taste like you’re drinking alcoholic corn syrup.

There is one final secret to the success of Estrella: its yeast. This is often the case when a brewery attains icon status – yeast can be one of the key proprietary elements and while it is often in the shadow of malt and hops, it inevitably makes or breaks a brewery’s success ceiling. Damm cultivated a yeast strain over one hundred years ago that it uses for all of its beers, and protects fiercely. This is very much literal – there are three hidden vaults, two in Spain and one in the UK, that contain reserves of the yeast should there ever be a major infection (or like a big fire/something far more dramatic) at one of their facilities. It’s a clever safeguard, and one that shows just how committed Damm is as a company to its history and quality (though it’s clearly primed for a heist; bring on the movie Ocean’s 14: Yeast Feast).

Damm keeps reaching for the stars, opening its first non-Iberian facility in October 2025 – right here in the UK, Bedford to be exact. The question is whether we in the UK will notice a change in flavour from the Estrella we’re familiar with, so there is an element of risk, but it is encouraging that they want to invest in the UK’s beer infrastructure. It’s also notable that the company has avoided the aggressive business policies that are the hallmark of so much of the world’s “big beer”, while still having its products become globally renowned. As long as they remain independent, continue to play fair with smaller UK indies and avoid buying and tying up pub lines (unlike other big time macro corporates who are destroying our still-fledgling indie beer scene), we’re in favour. While iconic is a subjective term, Damm meets our standards, so a big, Spanish gold star for them – plus the pun potential is damn right astronomical.