Portuguese Beer: Super Bock vs Sagres and How to Order a Fino

Portugal is best known for wine, but beer is everywhere, from tiny glasses of draught lager at a café counter to a growing craft scene. Here’s a quick guide to Portuguese beer: the big brands, how to order, and where to find craft beer.

Quick answer: the two big brands are Super Bock and Sagres. To order a small draught beer, ask for an imperial in Lisbon or a fino in Porto. A larger glass is a caneca. Lisbon and Porto both have good craft beer bars.

Why try the beer

In the heat of a Portuguese summer, a small, very cold lager is what most locals drink with lunch, at the beach or at a football match. It’s cheap, it’s served fast, and the small glass means it stays cold. Knowing a few words for ordering makes the café counter much easier.

The big brands

• Super Bock: usually the best-selling beer, especially popular in the north. The brand dates from 1927 and has led the Portuguese market since the 1980s. It’s brewed at Leça do Balio in Matosinhos, just outside Porto.
• Sagres: its great rival, especially popular in Lisbon and the south. It was launched in 1940, the year of the Portuguese World Exhibition in Lisbon. It’s brewed at Vialonga, north of Lisbon, and is now part of the Heineken group.
• Coral: Madeira’s own beer, found in almost every bar on the island.
• Especial: a beer from the Azores, brewed in Ponta Delgada on São Miguel.

Locals are loyal to one or the other, and the Super Bock vs Sagres debate is a friendly rivalry. Between them, the two brands sell the large majority of the beer drunk in Portugal. Both also make darker beers: look for Super Bock Stout and Sagres Preta. Super Bock also makes an abbey-style ale, Abadia, and both brands sell alcohol-free versions.

How to order

• Imperial (Lisbon) / fino (Porto): a small glass of draught beer, around 20cl. Elsewhere in the country, either word is understood.
• Caneca: a larger mug, around 50cl.
• Mini: a small 20cl bottle, perfect in the heat. Often sold cheaply in packs in supermarkets.
• Sem álcool: alcohol-free versions are widely available.
• Panaché: beer mixed with lemonade, a light option on hot days.
• Uma imperial, por favor: “a small beer, please”. See Portuguese phrases.

Craft beer

Portugal’s craft beer scene has grown fast, with breweries and taprooms in Lisbon, Porto and beyond serving IPAs, sours and stouts. Look for craft beer bars in Lisbon’s Bairro Alto and Cais do Sodré, and in Porto’s centre. See Lisbon nightlife and Porto nightlife.

Marvila, Lisbon’s brewery district

The old warehouse area of Marvila, east of the centre, has several breweries with taprooms. Dois Corvos opened one of the first here in the mid-2010s, and others such as Musa followed. It’s a relaxed place for an afternoon of tastings. Taprooms usually open from mid-afternoon and hours vary by day, so check before you go.

Brewery visits

Super Bock runs a visitor centre, the Casa da Cerveja, at its brewery in Leça do Balio, a short bus ride from Porto (Super Bock suggests bus 128 from Casa da Música metro station). Tours take about two hours and include two beer tastings with small bites. English tours run only on some days, and you need to book ahead.

Old beer halls

A cervejaria is a beer hall, usually with seafood on the menu. In Lisbon, the Cervejaria Trindade has served beer since 1836 in the old refectory of a former convent, under 19th-century tile panels of the seasons and the elements. Go for the room as much as the food.

Beer and food

• Bifanas and pregos: classic with a cold imperial. See bifanas and pregos.
• Francesinha: Porto’s famous meat sandwich in a beer and tomato sauce, almost always served with a fino. See the francesinha.
• Seafood: shellfish and a cold beer at a cervejaria (beer hall). Order clams, prawns or crab by weight. See the seafood guide.
• Petiscos: small snacks such as tremoços (salted lupin beans), olives and caracóis (snails, in early summer) often come with a beer.

When to drink it

• Summer: the beer season. Esplanadas (café terraces) fill up in the late afternoon.
• Festivals: beer flows at the June street parties in Lisbon and Porto. See Santo António in Lisbon and São João in Porto.
• Football: big matches are shown in almost every café, with beer to match.

Tips

• Prices: beer is cheap in local cafés and more expensive in tourist areas. Prices at a counter are often lower than at a table.
• Drinking outside: drinking in the street is common in nightlife areas, but local rules vary. Porto has banned selling alcohol to drink in the street between 9pm and 8am since June 2025. Since February 2026, Lisbon has banned takeaway alcohol sales from 11pm (midnight on Fridays, Saturdays and holiday eves) until 8am.
• Glass size: if you want a bigger beer, say so. The default is the small glass.
• Age: you must be 18 to buy or be served alcohol.
• Driving: the drink-driving limit is 0.5 g/l, and 0.2 g/l for drivers in their first three years and for professional drivers. Don’t drink and drive.

FAQ

What is the most popular beer in Portugal?

Super Bock has led the Portuguese market since the 1980s. Sagres is a close rival and is the more common choice in Lisbon and the south.

What’s the difference between an imperial and a fino?

Nothing but the name. Both mean a small glass of draught beer, about 20cl: imperial in Lisbon and the south, fino in Porto and the north.

Can you drink beer in the street in Portugal?

It’s common, but local rules apply. Porto stops sales of alcohol for the street from 9pm, and Lisbon stops takeaway sales from 11pm (midnight at weekends).

What is the drinking age in Portugal?

It’s 18, both for buying alcohol in shops and for being served in bars and cafés.

More: the Portuguese coffee guide and Portugal’s wine regions.

Prices and details change, so please double-check before you travel. Spotted something out of date? Tell us in the groups.