What to drink instead of San Miguel Especial
San Miguel Especial is sold as Spanish and brewed in Britain, at Magor, Monmouthshire, South Wales and Samlesbury, Lancashire, at 5.0%. If you were buying it for a Spanish lager, these are the beers on the same shelves that are brewed in the country on their label, or are British and say so, within a point of its strength.
Where San Miguel Especial is really brewed, with the pack wording and the sources.
From the country on the label
- M&S Spanish LagerImported from Spain · 4.5% · sold as SpanishGenuine import Partly verified
Brewed in Spain. 4.5% here.
- Estrella Galicia EspecialImported from Spain · 4.7% · sold as SpanishVerified
Brewed at A Coruna, Galicia in Spain. 4.7% here, against 5.5% at home.
The same style, genuinely imported from elsewhere
- Peroni Nastro AzzurroImported from Italy · 5.1% · sold as ItalianGenuine import Verified
Brewed at Rome, Padua and Bari in Italy. 5.1% here, the same as at home.
- Birra Menabrea BiondaImported from Italy · 4.8% · sold as ItalianGenuine import Verified
Brewed at Biella, Piedmont in Italy. 4.8% here.
- SagresImported from Portugal · 5.0% · sold as PortugueseGenuine import Partly verified
Brewed at Vialonga in Portugal. 5.0% here, the same as at home.
- IchnusaImported from Italy · 4.7% · sold as ItalianGenuine import Partly verified
Brewed at Assemini, Sardinia in Italy. 4.7% here, the same as at home.
How this list is made. Nobody here has tasted these side by side, and no beer pays to appear. A beer is listed when the record says it is the same kind of beer, is either imported from the country on its label or British and sold as British, is not itself brewed under licence in Britain, has at least one source we trust, and sits within a point of the strength of San Miguel Especial. Beers from the country on the label come first, then the same style from elsewhere, then British beers. Where an import is weaker in Britain than at home, the card says so.
Every beer sold as Spanish · The full list of what to buy instead · Alternatives for other beers