Here's to history

Beer lovers have until November 10 to learn all about the way this drink is made through photographs, documents and tools used by the company founded by Casimiro Mahou - a Frenchman from Alsace - on Madrid's Amaniel street in the late 19th century, a time when wine still ruled the Spanish drinker's palate unchallenged. Since then, five generations have built up what constitutes Spain's largest beer empire, the Mahou-San Miguel Group.

Using images from Madrid's Regional Archive, which was itself once a beer factory for the brand El Águila, the exhibition explains how this beverage has made headway in the Spanish capital since the arrival of the master brewer Konrad Stauffer.

By the 1950s, there were famous beer-drinking contests that were immortalized in numerous photographs. There are also historical shots of people like Román, the refreshment seller at Las Ventas bullring, or the bullfighter Joaquín Rodríguez, leaning against the bar of an establishment where drinking beer became a time-honored rite.

One of the most eye-catching items in the show is a golden fountain with a profusion of taps and decorated with Goya-like motifs, which was once used to serve draft beer in a downtown tavern. There are also powerful-looking metal structures used in the germination of malt which, along with rice and corn depending on the period, was used along with barley to make beer the traditional way.

Thirst in the trenches

A document dating back to 1937, with the Civil War in full swing, states that the shortage of barley caused by the lengthy battles would endanger beer-making and postpone production by five months, with the resulting "effects on the combatants." It was then that the Republican government swiftly decided to import barley from Poland.

Then there is the collection of Mahou bottles, which at first had paper labels before later models appeared with engraved labels and longer necks. There are old oak barrels and modern silvery barrels. The show also provides a profusion of documents on industry workers, with references to provincial brands such as La Estrella de Gijón; San Juan de Valladolid; the illustrious Damm de Barcelona; Knorr de Vitoria, La Zaragozana, La Salmantina and La Gaditana.

The low-budget exhibition, which has no known curator, is the result of an agreement between the deputy premier of the Madrid regional government, Ignacio González, and the Mahou beer company, with the aim of digitalizing the business' historical archive.

El Fondo Mahou y la tradición cervecera en Madrid. Until November 10 at Archivo Regional de la Comunidad de Madrid. C/ Ramírez de Prado 3, Madrid.