By Irvina Lew

I wasn’t familiar with Estrella Damm, Barcelona’s best beer, until I heard about the New York to Barcelona Transoceanic Sailing Record. One of the two, 60-foot open sailing yachts racing the 3750 mile course during the second week of April, 2010, is called Estrella Damm, for its sponsor. (www.ny-bcn.org)

Visitors who arrive at BCN airport notice the huge, sprawling, 360,000 square foot “home” of the 130 year old brewery en route into the city. It’s where they produce 25 brands–including one with no wheat for celiac patients—for 500 Spanish distributors and millions of consumers. It’s also home to a 60,000 square foot kitchen devoted to product development. I was lucky enough to visit and tour the brewery and, at lunch, there, sample INEDIT, its newest artisanal product.

INEDIT is designed to pair with gourmet food as if it were a fine wine. Ferran Adriá, of El Bullí, considered the world’s best chef, notes that the world needed a beer to pair with gourmet food. Experienced brewmasters combined barley malt and wheat, flavored with coriander, orange peel and liquorice to create the aromatic beverage. It is delicate with a fruity aroma and a mild flavor with sweet spices and floral notes. Adriá and his sommelier, Juli Soler, spent eighteen months helping to craft and refine its delicate flavor and serves it at his restaurant. Unfortunately, it’s such a tiny place and so very difficult to get a reservation (some say it takes two years) and so far from Barcelona that even though I travel from one Michelin 3-star to another, I have no hopes of ever eating there. (And, he’s planning to close it in a year or so.)

INEDIT arrives in a distinctive black 750 ml bottle with a champagne-style shape and decorated with a gold star and the Estrella Damm logo. And, because it was created for gastronomy, sommeliers in the fine dining establishments where it is lauded—including at Blue Hill at Stone Barns where Dan Barber, another world renown top chef, reigns– bring it to the table in deep ice buckets and pour it into white wine glasses.

While in Barcelona, I learned that Estrella Damm is a household and restaurant favorite and that they sponsor football (soccer) team and other sporting events. By April, Americans will be familiar with the brand which is imported by United States Beverage, LLC.