A few days after we visited microbrewery Dois Corvos, in Lisbon we found out that there’s been a new beer place in Colares, less than 10 minutes walk from our regular place in the Lisbon region. HopSin Brewpub opened its doors in Colares in July 2019.
Heart of Colares
Right next to the Adega Regional de Colares, in the building of the old tram depot, brewer and initiator Sergió Pardal has managed to create a particularly interesting place. It starts with the building itself: the tram rails run through the boiler room.
In fact, because the building used to function as a post office, playing a central role in the 1930s in sending money and goods to Portuguese who were raised in Brazil, this building comes with its own safe! Nobody knows what’s inside though, the code is unknown.
New home of brewery MAG8
BrewPub HopSin is actually the extension of MAG8, the small brewery of Sergió and his partner José. They started making beers on a small scale in Sintra in 2017, under the name MAG8 (in Portuguese this is pronounced Magoito, which is the name of the small village where Sergió comes from, about 20 km from Sintra). A handful of Home Brew awards and some collaborations down the road it was time to take the next step and move theMAG8 brewery to this new place in Colares.
Huge roof terrace
Sergió shows us around the building and tells us about the functions it used to have, from the waiting room to the post office to the transit of the grapes from the neighbouring adega, via the tram to Sintra. The little tram from Sintra to Praia das Maças runs directly along the Brewpub, the stop Banzão is quite literally next to the entrance.
After a short tour Sergió reveals that he is also allowed to have a roof terrace, covering the entire roof! He is currently using half of it as a terrace. If we want to have a look? Well, you bet! He takes us up the stairs and we see a fantastic spacious roof terrace, covered with artificial turf and with a couple of beer tables. And the highlight: a fantastic view over Colares and of course a magnificent view of Palácio da Pena.
A nice bonus is that the roof terrace is big enough for our kids to run around and play on.
Lovely New England IPA
Of course we also took some beers for a tasting. A flight of 5 small glasses will cost you about €9, more than reasonable. We took the local favorite, the Seteais New England IPA, and also had the Colares Pale Ale, their Wheat Ale, a Black IPA and their Patersbier. The MAG8range is pretty spectacular, with the Seteais NEIPA and the Black IPA competing for the title of best beer of the afternoon.
Great future
It is particularly refreshing to see that an entrepreneur like Sergio dares to start a brewpub in Colares. With his background in marketing, the beautiful location next to the Adega Regional and right next to the tourist tram line between Sintra and Maças, I am confident that Brewpub HopSin has a bright future ahead.
Where to find Brewpub HopSin
Address: Av. do Atlântico 1, Colares
Opening hours: Friday to Sunday: 4 p.m. – midnight | Closed Monday to Wednesday
