The two major local draught beers are Sagres and Superbock - Sagres, as you might guess, is my personal favourite, Superbock, for me, having a slightly 'chemically' taste. Most major international brands are available but, being imported will cost more.
The 'Holy Grail' of local beers is Cristal, fairly regularly available in bottled form, but extremely rare on draught; should hubby, perchance, be lucky enough to stumble across this particular nectar in its' draught form, please inform me immediately by private message ( not, whatever you do, on open forum, as we have a few unsavoury characters here who would think nothing of popping over there on a cheap flight and buying the lot!! )
The usual rule of thumb regarding beer applies in Portugal, the same as all over the world however - there is no such thing as bad beer - it's just that some is better than others !!!

I agree completely with the previous post. Although I stick to draught beer, one of the bars I frequent has a number of bottle Cristal drinkers. It always come from the fridge under the counter!

You can also get San Miguel around here, but that's Spanish beer.

DH spent a fortnight enjoying the delights of Sagres on our last holiday to Lagos, so another fan here. Its very widespread and accessible. (the beer not DH !)

Same here, Sagres is good stuff but my preferred choice is Cristal. Superbock is okay but makes my mouth dry after a few and (for me anyway) reminds me of budweiser as it tastes sweet. Absolutely no thing as a bad beer in my book

Lummie

So Sagres and Cristal it is then , I'm sure he'll have fun seeing which one he prefers
Thanks for your replies

My better half reckons that when he drinks Superbock its like having a local anaesthetic injected into his mouth, that might be good though to shut him up occasionally

If hubby is a student of beer (rather than just drinks beer like a student!) he may like to know that both Sagres and Superbock do more than basic pale lager.

Both do a very dark stout type, which Sagres call Preta and Superbock call Stout.

They also do richer, stronger golden beers. Sagres call it Bohemia whilst Superbock have Abadia - which has three versions.

We won't discuss the low alcohol or lemon/lime flavoured offerings!!

For more info about Superbock in English see http://www.superbock.pt/EN/The_Brand_Products_eng.html

For some reason the Sagres website is just promoting a football tournament at the moment but the range is shown in Portuguese and pictures at http://www.centralcervejas.pt/default.asp?s=11727&parent=11975

Madeira has its Coral beer. Owned of course by Pestana! I find all PT beers far too gassy and stick to Velho Vinho. (Pints that is of course )

Steve, our Portuguese neighbour always has Sagres preto (black beer as we call it) in his fridge when we call round for a drink, but hubby dont like it so we end up drinking the vinho tinto and very nice reserva I might add.We wobble home just over the road from his house around 3am in the morning wishing we had never visited, but an experience and very enjoyable.We keep saying we wont do it again, but always go back for more :cheers. He rings us up at 23.00hrs to come round and we say. maybe but always go. We invite him to our house for a barbecue and it ends up being fun but with that never again thing. I like the Sagres with a hint of lime, forgot what they call it, (similar to Fosters twist) very refreshing for an in-between drink from the vinho tinto.When will we ever learn to drink water

to quote W. C. Fields "I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it".

The Sagres shandy is called Limalight, I suppose it's preferable to WKD!!!!

And I've just realised that the Sagres link I gave requires you to give a date of birth to get in - you have to be 16 to read about beer in Portugal!!

steve8482 wrote:

to quote W. C. Fields "I never drink water because of the disgusting things that fish do in it".

The Sagres shandy is called Limalight, I suppose it's preferable to WKD!!!!

And I've just realised that the Sagres link I gave requires you to give a date of birth to get in - you have to be 16 to read about beer in Portugal!!

But you also only have to be 16 to drink it...

only have to be 16 to drink

... Two wasted years !! .. but a long, long time ago !!

Carnt be 2 wasted years if you went into the pubs trying to look 18 but only 15 like I did & I'd bet black is white that you did it.OMG mi owd dad would turn in his grave if he knew, dolled up to the 9's and thinking oh I do look 18, no wonder he used to say "whats all that sh=te on your face, and pull that skirt down its too short" them where the days, many many moons ago

Eeeh by 'eck!

Wildly off topic but is it true that women spend about ten years (8 to 18) trying to look older, then about 50 years trying to look younger? Far too much effort, surely?

Men stick to beer.

I have also tried some of the darker beers but they are not easy to find in bars. Some are not half bad especially the Sagres Preto as mentioned.