Mahou

Madrid’s quintessential beer

The story of Cervezas Mahou begins in 1890, when its now legendary factory was built at Calle Amaniel 29, with façades onto Calle del Limón and Calle Montserrat. The company, named Hijos de Casimiro Mahou, produced and distributed not only beer but also ice. This was not particularly unusual, as Casimiro Mahou, the father of the founders of the beer-making dynasty, had run an artificial ice factory some years before. During the 1910s and 20s, Casimiro Mahou García, the son of one of the company’s founders, took over the factory and expanded the family business. When he died in the 1940s, his son Alfredo Mahou took charge of the company: under his management, Mahou became a limited company in the late 1950s, when production grew to the extent that a new factory was required to meet rising demand. This factory was built on Paseo Imperial in the Manzanares area and quickly became the only operational factory in Madrid. Since then, Mahou beer has become more and more popular in homes and bars across the city (cañas are everywhere!). Mahou San Miguel is now Spain’s biggest brewery group and the brand is practically synonymous with beer in the popular imagination, especially in Madrid.