Bodega Fermin

bodega fermin

On leaving La Mar Salada, Oli insisted on going for a beer. We didn’t have to walk far, as just round the corner is Bodega Fermin, an old fashioned bar which sells craft beer – a booming industry in Barcelona.

oli testing the beer

Oli was keen to have a beer before lunch, but we had to make a detour and ran out of time. Note the large selection of bottled beer in stock, hanging on strings above the bar.

vermut on tap

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Spanish bodegas, the word generally means wine cellar (from the Latin apotheca meaning storehouse, from the Acient Greek word apothéké) and are synonymous with small wine merchant/grocery shops that can be found all over Spain. Traditionally they sell wine from the barrel – one can bring in a bottle or jug to be filled and taken home. This is normally quite cheap and less expensive than buying a labelled bottle. Often bodegas sell groceries, such as ham, cheese, potatoes and bottled water. Bodegas also serve as a bar, so one can have a drink while shopping – what’s not to like about that! Above are Bodega Fermin’s tanks of vermut de la casa  – home made vermouth. There is no hard and fast rule about what a bodegas is, some are more like a wine merchant, others are corner grocery shops that sell alcohol and of course there are bodegas on vineyards containing hundreds of gallons of wine. Bodega Fermin has managed to incorporate trendy craft beer (with 8 draft beers on tap), without loosing it’s charm or bumping up the prices.

olives and boquerones

cheese and sun dried tomatoes

olives and anchovies

cheese in olive oil

Bodega Fermin is noted for it’s tapas – above are a selection on sticks, which are pre-prepared and are (I assume) sitting in brine until required. The sliced cheese is preserved in olive oil –  something I’ve done myself (in the distant past) and flavoured the oil with chilli to give it a kick.

vermut de la casa

Since the arrival of my food baby, I’ve gone off beer and prefer to stick to wine, especially after lunch. As Bodega Fermin make their own vermut, I felt it was only right to test it while basking in the sunshine – I was not disappointed, it’s excellent! While vermut is generally served as an aperitif, it also makes for a good digestive (with a slice of orange, a couple of olives and a squirt of soda) on a lazy afternoon. I’m sure that Merv and Finn concur, as we polished off a few glasses each.

Bodega Fermin is at: Sant Carles 18, 08003, Barcelona (on the main square in Barceloneta).

After the vermut appreciation, we had a glass of Patxaran and sampled some Asturian cider. While walking back to the Raval, the cider got the better of us and we were lured into an Asturian cider bar on C/de la Mercé. These bars serve a strong flat cider (sidra), which is poured from above the shoulder and into a glass held just below the waist in order to aerate the drink. As the cider bar make it’s own vermut, I stuck to drinking what I was used to. Oli, on the other hand, opted for Leche de Pantera Rosa – a drink that can be traced back to the Spanish Foreign Legion. Merv and Finn, sensibly, drank cider.

Fortified, we continued our journey. For a moment we were close to sitting down in a bar on Plaça de George Orwell,  but fortunately, Oli’s homing beacon kicked in and we marched on up the hill to Walter’s Bar. I drank a couple of glasses of white wine (for strength), before going to dinner a la casa de Jonas i Silvia.