When visiting a new country or region, it is always fun to immerse yourself in the local culture and to learn some of the different customs and ways of life.
When I visited the city of Barcelona back in 2013, I wanted to learn a little bit about Catalan food and wine, so I took a tapas tour which included various foods and aspects of the drinking culture of the Catalonia region of Spain.
While taking the tour, I learned one particularly unique part of the Catalan drinking culture: how to drink wine and beer from a Porrón.
A porrón is a drinking vessel that was originally created from ceramic to keep the wine fresh and free from contact with oxygen. Today, it is mostly used in communal settings as a fun way to consume both wine and beer.
Attempting to get all of the alcohol from the vessel and into your mouth appears to be much easier than it looks.
While holding the porrón at about eye-level, you need to tilt your head back and quickly turn the spout of the container towards your mouth to let a steady stream of the liquid trickle inside of it. When drinking from the vessel, it is important not to let your mouth touch the spout, which can be a challenging task as you attempt to keep the alcohol from splashing all over your face and clothes.
Although you typically would pour the alcohol from the porrón into your mouth by yourself, you can also try your hand at having someone do the pouring for you.
* Tip: If you know that your night out in Spain will consist of drinking from a porrón, it would definitely be wise to wear dark clothes to hide the stains from the wine/beer that has dribbled off of your chin.
I’d never seen a Porron before, looks like quite a technique!
It certainly was Suze! I had never heard of it either until I went to BCN!
omg, this is one of the coolest ways to drink I’ve ever seen! haha makes for great photos, too!
It definitely was a lot of fun Jess. I heard that there is a place in NYC where you can see a Porron, so I will have to check it out to relive the memories!