Axarquía company wins gold medal at World Beer Awards 2025

La Axarca, the beer brand created by the distributor La Domadora y el León, which is based in Frigiliana on the eastern side of Malaga province, has won a gold medal in the World Beer Awards 2025, which was held in Norwich in August.

Brotas Beer La Axarca, a session IPA which came about through a collaboration between the Frigiliana company and Brotas Beer, a microbrewery run by Marcio Egea Secafin in Sao Paolo, Brazil, won the gold country winner prize in the IPA session beers category of the awards for its distinctive taste.

Owners of La Domadora y el León, Charo Barco and Javier León, travelled to the city of Brotas in Sao Paolo state in Brazil in March this year, where they brewed the first ‘Brazilian-style’ version of their Tropical Pale Ale.

Marcio Egea Secafin has family connections with Frigiliana as his grandmother was born there and he and Javier first met in 2014 through their connections with the brewing industry.

The couple explain that 3,000 litres of 'Made in Brazil' La Axarca beer was brewed using four hops, Citra, Mosaico, Amarillo and Cascade, the same as in the Spanish version, but three new types of barley have been added to maintain "the colour, aroma and alcohol and thus get as close as possible to the original beer".

Charo and Javier were able to bring a limited amount of the beer back to Spain. It was sold as a 'limited edition' both in Frigiliana and at the Sao Paolo brewery. However, for now there are no plans to produce more.

The World Beer Awards are the global awards selecting the very best in all the international recognised styles, award and promote the world’s best beers to consumers and trade across the globe.

The winners for the World Beer Awards 2025 were officially announced on Wednesday 13 August and the announcement took place at The Great Hospital in Norwich.