Sidrería La Creación Bar

Sol (El Centro), Madrid –

The northern coast of Spain is famous for its love of sidra – a greenish-yellow apple cider served in large, wide-brimmed glasses – and La Creación, with its cool old-world feel and ideal location just off Plaza de Santa Ana, is the perfect setting in which to try some.

The bar’s black-and-white checkered floor contrasts nicely with the warm, earthy tones of the nostalgic murals of a bygone Madrid – but the patrons don’t really go for the décor. The youthful, cheery customers are much more interested in congregating at the bar or at the few tables in the narrow upstairs corridor, where they happily spend hours chatting and clinking glasses.

Although more expensive in Madrid than in Asturias or the Basque Country, sidra is still relatively cheap and low in alcohol – a good thing considering that, due to rapid oxidation that almost immediately changes the cider’s flavor, a bottle of sidra must be consumed fairly quickly once opened.

Patrons at La Creación shouldn’t be surprised, then, when they find five or six empties on the table at the end of the night!