Region & History

Galicia lies in northwestern Spain on the Atlantic coast—green, rainy, and better known for seafood and white wine than for beer. And yet it's home to one of Spain's great family-owned breweries. Estrella Galicia is brewed in A Coruña, and the story begins in 1906 with José María Rivera Corral from As Pontes, who had emigrated to America at the age of 15.

With his savings and fresh ideas, he returned and founded a factory for beer and ice in A Coruña. He chose the name "La Estrella de Galicia" in memory of his business in Veracruz, which had been called "La Estrella de Oro." In the early years, ice and water carried the company, with beer added as a second pillar.

In the 1920s, under Ramón Rivera, the founder's son, mechanization of the original factory began. Step by step, the small operation grew into a proper brewery. In 1972, Estrella Galicia Especial hit the market, and it remains the brand's flagship beer to this day.

Today the family business is called Hijos de Rivera, led by Ignacio Rivera Quintana. In 2023, the group's revenue reached around 829 million, with roughly 1,809 employees. The company now also includes mineral water brands like Cabreiroá, in which the family took a stake in 1994, as well as wine, cider, and vermouth.

There's no protected designation of origin for Galician beer. No Spanish beer appears on the EU's register of protected geographical indications, and Spain has no purity law like Germany's Reinheitsgebot. Estrella Galicia is therefore a brand, not a protected region—and that's exactly how it should be understood.