Jul 14, 2026 · 16 min · 11 segments
Drinking beer is one of Spain's national pastimes. A caña, the smallish draft beer in Spain, is its protagonist…but beware of regional differences. In Madrid, a caña is 200 milliliters of draft beer…
Marti BuckleyHost
Sitting on a terrace with a small glass of beer beats the beach, beats travel, beats a good meal.
And anyone who has spent a weekend afternoon in any Spanish city knows that that's not wrong.
The drink at the center of Spaniards' favorite thing to do carries the name of a 19th century piece of bar equipment.
It changes sizes depending on which region you order it in, and it generates enough economic activity that the industry can tell you down to the céntimo what each one contributes to the national treasury.
La cerveza, yeah, you can order una cerveza, but everybody else is ordering una caña.
I'm Marti Buckley, an author, journalist, and cook who has lived in Spain since 2010.
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Sitting on a terrace with a small glass of beer beats the beach, beats travel, beats a good meal.
And anyone who has spent a weekend afternoon in any Spanish city knows that that's not wrong.
The drink at the center of Spaniards' favorite thing to do carries the name of a 19th century piece of bar equipment.
It changes sizes depending on which region you order it in, and it generates enough economic activity that the industry can tell you down to the céntimo what each one contributes to the national treasury.
La cerveza, yeah, you can order una cerveza, but everybody else is ordering una caña.
I'm Marti Buckley, an author, journalist, and cook who has lived in Spain since 2010.
