About

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“In all the remarkable moments of my life I had a beer in my hand”


My name is Joan Villar-i-Martí, Catalan writer, consultant and beer enthusiast. In this blog I share reflections and stories of my experiences around the world of beer: from trips to visits to breweries or bars, as well as my vision and opinion on the constant evolution of the local beer scene. Or other random thoughts which are more or less related to beer.

I am a full time father and husband and, while devoting much of my temporal and mental resources to beer, I am a financial risk consultant by profession. The little free time I have is devoted especially to reading novels, writing and practicing a certain variety of sports. One of my biggest frustrations is not becoming a professional chess player.

I am easily involved in everything that I find interesting for the dissemination of beer culture in our country. In this sense, I am deeply proud to be part of the organisational team of the Barcelona Beer Festival. But especially, I am happy to constantly learn from the people I get to know thanks to this magnificent hobby.

At the end of this road, I hope to have been able to convey that the true meaning of beer 'is nothing very special. Try to be nice to people, avoid eating fat drinking bad beer, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.' – The Meaning of Life (1983).

If you want to contact me you can do it through here: Contact.



Why Birraire?


Despite its being a word of Italian origin, in my mother tongue ‘birra’ is recurrently used in colloquial registers to refer to beer - even more than the genuine word itself, which is ‘cervesa’. Birraire, which indicates someone who likes birra, is the adjective my parents tagged me with when they discovered my great passion for this drink. Over time, that familiar nickname has joined my first name, and in the beer scene I am widely known as Joan Birraire.

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