Tap Room Hops & Drops – Craft beer by the ocean

At a stone’s throw from the Atlantic Ocean at Praia das Maçãs you will find Tap Room Hops & Drops. This craft beer place is part of the food and beverages court of the fairly recent holiday resort Aldeia da Praia, just outside the old and established Praia das Maçãs.

Hops n drop watertoren en bier

Holiday park Aldeia da Praia

The holiday park has been open since 2018 and in addition to this craft beer tasting room it consists of a campsite, a wine bar, a supermarket, a hostel, an ice-cream shop, a hamburger food truck and a few more amenities, all within walking distance of the beaches of
Praia das Maçãs and Praia Grande.
Hops en drops aldeai da praia

Changing tap: always something tasty

Tap Room Hops & Drops is the eye catcher of the park as far as we’re concerned. The pub is located in the old white water tower and is owned by the same folks that run the Brewpub HopSin and brouwerij MAG8 in Colares 2 km away, father and daughter Sérgio and Marta Pardal. That is obviously reflected in the selection of beers they have on the 8 different taps at Hops & Drops: almost all are local craft beers and there is usually always one of MAG8 among them.

The concept is quite simple: as soon as one of the eight casks is empty, they attach a new one. And no, they usually don’t hook up the same beer as was on there before. At Hops & Drops they try to serve people a new type of beer with every empty cask. They do stick to similar types of beers though. Has the IPA run out? Then they connect a new IPA from another brewery.

Also something for your holiday address

By the way, we were told that they do try to serve some of the stock all year round. The MAG8 Seteais IPA, for example, is such a popular beer that they almost always have it on tap. And rightly so, because we think this is one of the best IPA’s we tasted in Portugal!

Hops en drops tap

Hops & Drops distinguishes itself somewhat from HopSin because you can also get foreign beers in bottles here. When we were last there were a number of bottles of Duvel, La Chouffe and Erdinger on the shelf to take home. At HopSin you can only get MAG8 beers to take home with you.

Locals and tourists

We asked how business was going. Because let’s face it: Portugal isn’t exactly known as a beer country yet, especially when it comes to local craft beer. Hops & Drops profiles itself very much as a place where you can taste and experience just that. Does that even work around here?

Fortunately, things seem to be going pretty well. Hops & Drops benefits from its convenient location near the sea at Praia das Macas and Praia Grande of course, and Lisbon is only a 45 minute drive by car. So in the high season there are always tourists who come here to have a beer. These are both passers-by and people who stay at the park Aldeia da Praia.

hops n drops - watertoren
A smart way to attract people to the place is live music. Almost every week they have a band playing on the deck next to the tap room. Not only surfers and sun worshippers come here for that, people from all over the area grab a beer at Hops & Drops.

The mission: promoting Portuguese craft beer

It became clear to us that both Hops & Drops and HopSin’s mission is to bring more attention to local Portuguese craft beers. In this traditional wine country this is quite difficult, but when we see and taste what kind of beers they’re making in the immediate vicinity of Lisbon, we can’t help but conclude that the local craft beer scene has a golden future here!

Where to find Hops & Drops

Adresse: Avenida do Atlântico S/N Antiga Colonia de Ferias da CP, Colares
Opening hours: daily 3 p.m – 00.00h

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