Anís de Badalona & the Ratafia Tradition
Badalona was once the aniseed-liqueur capital of Spain — at its peak in the early 20th century, the Anís del Mono distillery was the country's largest spirits exporter, and its art-nouveau factory still stands as a protected landmark on Carrer de Casanova. Tasting a chilled glass of anís or the local herbal ratafia here is a genuinely place-specific pleasure you cannot replicate anywhere else.
The Anís del Mono factory and legacy
The 1897 Domecq-Bosch factory building, designed with Modernista flourishes, is a striking piece of industrial heritage. The distinctive bottle label — featuring a monkey clutching a scroll — was designed as a cheeky riposte to critics who said only monkeys would drink it. The brand survived and thrived; the critics did not.
Guided visits to the historic factory floor run on selected dates through the Badalona tourism office and include a tasting of the original sweet and dry expressions alongside the lesser-known Ratafia Catalana, a walnut-and-herb digestif made to a recipe predating the distillery.
Where to drink it properly
Several old-school bars in the Centre Històric serve anís in the traditional way: a small, ice-cold glass alongside a dark espresso, drunk in alternation — a ritual called the cigaló or cremat depending on whether you add flame. Bar La Pepita on Carrer del Mar is a reliable, unpolished spot where this ritual is still observed without irony.
For a more modern take, the cocktail bar Vermut & Cía near the seafront uses Anís del Mono as a base in a house vermouth spritz that has become something of a local signature drink on Sunday aperitivo hour.
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