How much is a beer in Porto?
What a great question!
- at the local café 1€
- at a restaurant starts 2€ and up depending on the restaurant and beer
- at the club, it’s only sold on a plastic glass and usually 4€ and up
In Porto we have a a few established brands of beer, the most famous being Super Bock.
Super Bock is a 131 year old brewery in Porto and nowadays the most sold beer in Portugal.
Specially in the North of Portugal, it’s the most common one, found on all cafés, restaurants and supermarkets.
Usually you can find it on tap and on the bottle.
Francesinha, the famous hot sandwich of Porto, can only be eaten with beer! Eat it with wine and risk being hit by lightning! :)
The way we drink beer in Porto
When on a terrace, or a café enjoying a snack and the views with friends we drink beer on the bottle.
Bottles are 33cl and usually are around 1,5€ to 2€. You can only drink from the bottle inside a establishment for safety reasons.
When drinking beer at a meal, usually we drink on tap. The same brand, mainly Super Bock, but we have it on a chilled tall glass. There are 2 types of glasses, fino e principe and a mug.
When we buy it from the supermarket to drink at home, one popular choice in the last 10 years has been the Mini, a smaller 25cl bottle.
How to ask for a beer in Porto
It’s common to hear people just asking for a “Super bock”, because the brand is so recognizable.
But there are 4 main ways of serving the beer that can be used as the names to ask for it:
- in the normal bottle, 33cl, we say: “uma cerveja” – one beer or one super bock and the waiter will know it’s the bottle.
- on tap beer, we say: “um fino” – the translation won’t make sense but it is literally, one thin, due to the tall thin chilled glass. Anywhere in Porto you can ask it like this.
- if you want a bigger glass, also thin and chilled but with more beer: “um principe” or one prince :)
- on the bottle but the smaller 25cl: “uma Mini” or one Mini, and again everyone knows what you mean.
Finally, to help you pronounce one – “Uma”, you can say it exactly like the name of the actress Uma Therman.
Other brands of beer in Porto
Nortada is the biggest, well known, crafted beer made in Porto.
You can find their brewery right in the center of the city, right next to the main avenue of Aliados where the City Hall is.
You can also visit and tour the brewery and have a tasting.
There are other smaller, specialized crafted beers that you may find as specialties at restaurants but in that case the waiters will suggest them.
John, your private guide will love to teach you how to ask in Portuguese for a beer and will also recommend some interesting terraces and restaurants to enjoy one at the end of your sidecar tour of Porto.
Just letting know you need a quick Portuguese lesson in what really matters!?
We hope to see you soon in Porto and cheers!
