Article for holidaymakers who enjoy a drink (like me). I’ll tell you about the alcoholic drinks available to tourists on the islands. Most importantly, you’ll learn about the local alcohol in the Canary Islands, which is produced here and which everyone should try. And of course, there will be more detailed information about Canarian wines, where to find wine regions and wineries, tastings, and more.

Alcohol in the Canary Islands: General Information

Here are some general points you need to know to understand the whole picture:

  • The Canary Islands are part of Spain and Europe.
  • The islands are a special economic zone of Spain, where most business taxes are lower than in mainland Europe. As a result, prices for food and alcohol in the Canaries are among the lowest in Europe. A comprehensive overview of prices in the Canaries for all categories of goods that are of interest to tourists.

Interesting to know:

There’s plenty of alcohol in the Canary Islands, and it’s cheap here. However, you won’t find drunken people on the streets; locals know their limits, and nobody gets drunk and misbehaves at night. You can read more about the population of the Canaries, who the Canarians and Guanches are, what the attitude towards tourists on the archipelago in the article linked.

And of course, being in Europe, you can find any alcohol from global brands in Canary Island stores. They import everything you can imagine.

canarian beer
You won’t find beer in PET bottles here, only glass or aluminum, with a maximum volume of 1 liter.

Specialty of Alcohol in the Canaries:

This applies more to beer, but nonetheless: it’s prohibited to produce and import beer in PET bottles on the islands. Only aluminum cans or glass bottles are allowed. The maximum volume for beer bottles is 1 liter, and they will be made of glass, as shown in the photo above. You won’t find alcohol in plastic bottles here. Only 1.5-liter bottles of sangria can be plastic, but it’s not considered an alcoholic beverage here, more like a juice for lunch.

Local Alcohol in the Canaries: What to Try

And now to the point. Besides importing alcohol from all over the world, the Canary Islands produce a lot of their own alcohol. I’ll list all the local drinks that you can buy in almost any store and provide comments.

  • Sangria – a traditional Spanish low-alcohol drink. Red wine diluted with water or juice, sometimes sparkling water with added fruits and berries. Standard strength is from 4 to 7%. In stores, you can buy one and a half liters for 1.5-3 euros. In any restaurant, 1 liter of sangria costs about 10 euros, but it’s often homemade.
  • Beer. There’s local and imported from Europe. Prices for a 0.33-liter can in supermarkets start from 0.3-0.4 euros. The standard price for 1 liter of Spanish San Miguel is about 1.4 euros.
  • Rum. Many types of rum are produced in the Canaries, white, dark, and so on. The most popular local producer is Arehucas. 1 liter of 37.5% rum costs around 12 euros, available in any store. There are other local producers, prices start from 6.5 euros for 1 liter of local rum.
rum canary
The most famous and popular Canarian rum is Arehucas. Also, pay attention to the arrow, this symbol (Canary Islands flag in the shape of a heart) often indicates that the product is local and produced here on the islands. This applies not only to alcohol but also to other products.
  • Canarian honey rum. There are also many producers here, often even locals make it at home themselves. The bottles look similar, but it’s regular dark rum, but the label will say HONEY RUM or RONMIEL, and its strength is usually 20-27%. It’s a sweet thick liqueur based on local rum, palm syrup (called honey), and cane syrup. It’s often on the menu in a restaurant; you can order 50ml to try. 1 liter in a store costs from 10 euros.
honey rum canaries
Honey rum and regular rum are completely different drinks, not even close. One is a strong alcoholic drink, the other is a sweet liqueur based on strong rum.

Advice:

All local drinks listed above and below will make excellent gifts for your family and friends back home. Read more about what else you can bring from the Canary Islands as a gift, besides alcohol, by following the link.

About Drinks Made from Bananas

A separate small section about an interesting category of alcoholic beverages that are truly Canarian.

A brief introduction, so it’s clearer:

The entire Canary Archipelago has two sectors of the economy that account for up to 90% of the region’s budget: tourism and agriculture. Since these islands are volcanic and there’s almost no arable land, there isn’t much that can be grown here. The main agricultural crops in the Canaries are potatoes, bananas, and grapes. Banana plantations cover vast areas on the islands. They are grown in large quantities, and as a result, alcohol is now being made from bananas on the islands. If you want to learn more about the Canary Islands, about the capitals, about the economy, read an interesting article by following the link.
canary islands winery
Here’s how banana plantations look on Tenerife and Gran Canaria. They are covered with fabric or netting to protect them from pests. Local bananas have regional protection and a special ecological certificate.

Here are the alcoholic beverages made from local bananas on the Canary Islands today. All drinks can be bought in stores:

  • Banana rum, 37.5% strength. Prices start from 15 euros for 0.7 liters.
  • Banana liqueur. In texture, it resembles Baileys, but banana-flavored. Around 15-20 euros for 1 liter. There are many types, thicker or more liquid. But what unites them is that they are very sweet.
  • Banana Frizzante – a light slightly sparkling refreshing wine. It has a little fizz. Strength is about 6-7%.
  • Classic banana wines. You have to try them; I can’t describe them to you like this 🙂 From 10 euros per bottle.
banana liquor canaries
Banana alcohol in the Canaries: a wide choice, from strong drinks to light low-alcohol aperitifs. In the photo, all drinks are made from bananas and all are produced in the Canaries.

You can buy all these banana alcoholic delights in regular stores. Just a few BUTs: the assortment of these drinks in stores is weak, but the prices are lower. A good selection is usually found in souvenir shops; sometimes there are even tastings, but prices there are higher because they are for tourists.

  • Here’s a great tip for those vacationing in Tenerife: the largest selection of banana alcohol drinks is available at the museum’s shop.

Canarian Wines: Features

I’ll tell you straight away, I’m not a sommelier, nor am I a wine enthusiast or connoisseur. I don’t understand bouquets or wine note. So, everything about Canarian wines that follows will focus on where to buy them, where to find Canary Island wineries, and how much they cost. I won’t delve into soil acidity or grape cultivation specifics.

Interesting to know:

Of the 7 archipelago islands, vineyards exist on 6 of them. Only Fuerteventura doesn’t grow grapes. You’ll find local wine in stores on all other islands.

The best and most popular wines are considered those of Tenerife, La Palma, and Lanzarote. There are also several wineries on Gran Canaria. Here’s what you need to know about local wines from the Canary Islands:

  • The selection is extensive.
  • There are hundreds of private wineries, most of which have their own shops right at the winery. You can come for a stroll, often gaining access even to the cellar, taste the wine, and buy a couple of bottles.
  • If wines from mainland Spain, Italy, or France cost around 3-4 euros per bottle in stores, you won’t find Canary wines for less than 7-8 euros. Even then, there’s almost no choice at that price point. The standard price for local wines is 10-20 euros.
canarian wines price
Famous wines from Tenerife, made from grapes grown on the slopes of the Teide volcano.
  • A winery in Spanish is called Bodega. If you see this word on a map or road sign, know that you can likely visit and at least buy wines from that winery, and at most take a stroll through the cellars and taste wine with local cheese.
alcohol beverages canary islands
Such sights are accessible from the LZ-30 road on Lanzarote Island. Grapes on the Canaries grow just like this. We’re used to tall grapevines, and vineyards in France or Italy look completely different. But here on the Canaries, it’s all like this. Lava stone holes and fences protect the grapes from strong winds. In the photo, you can see vineyards stretching to the horizon.

To see these endless vineyards on the slopes of volcanoes like in the photo above, here are the coordinates to reach them by car on Lanzarote: 28.967299223374997, -13.717591790672357 (LZ-30 road).

Wine regions and wineries on the islands

If buying local Canarian wines from a regular grocery store isn’t satisfying, and you want to visit a winery, see how grapes grow, perhaps taste wine with cheese, and just get more emotions, here are a few wine regions to drive to, where there’s a concentration of private wineries.

wineries lanzarote
A winery tour on Lanzarote. Usually, wine tasting at any winery costs from 2 to 4 euros for a glass like the one in the photo. Sometimes there are offers for 5 euros: two glasses of wine and a snack (a plate of cheese).
  • Lanzarote. On the LZ-30 road, at the coordinates mentioned a couple of paragraphs above, there are about 10 wineries along an 8 km stretch, all open to tourists. The most famous ones are Bodega Rubicon, Bodega La Geria, and Bodega El Grifo. They produce Malvasia Volcanica wine.
canarian malvasia
One of the most famous wines on Lanzarote is from the La Geria winery. The logo of this winery was designed by Cesar Manrique, a very famous person on the island.
  • A large wine region in the south of La Palma Island is in the town of Los Canarios. Just open Google Maps, zoom in on this town, and you’ll see about 10 wineries (look for the word Bodega). Here are 2 of my favorites with very cool wines:
    • Bodega Carballo (map)
    • Bodega Teneguía (map)

Here’s a tip for wine enthusiasts. Book accommodation in Los Canarios for 1-2 nights. Come here, park your car, and walk around the town visiting wineries. There’s no beach here, and you won’t walk to the ocean, but you’ll see the crater of an active volcano and visit many wineries.

best canarian wine
This is us once again stopping at Bodega Carballo. I recommend trying the red wine shown in the photo; it’s aged in sherry casks for 6 months. Very interesting taste. It’s 12 euros per bottle, rarely found in stores. You need to go to the shop at the winery; the coordinates are above.

Even if you don’t plan to vacation on La Palma, you can fly here for 2 days just for the wine (this applies to any island). As they say, the Canaries are not just Tenerife. You can quickly and relatively inexpensively travel between the islands using local airlines, read about it here. 30 minutes and you’re on another island.

  • On Tenerife, there are 5 wine regions right away. One of the most famous is on the southern slope of Mount Teide near the village of Vilaflor. Here you’ll also find about a dozen private wineries. Here are a few of them where you can come, taste, and buy wine:
    • Bodega Lagar de Chasna (map)
    • Finca Ecológica Alma de Trevejos (map). Finca means a farm, you’ll often encounter this word in rural areas. Most often, farms grow bananas or raise goats. But sometimes, like on this one, there are vineyards, and they make wine. The word Finca implies that besides grapes, there are other agricultural crops here.

Useful to know:

All Canarian wines are not just homemade wine; they represent technology, tradition, and the highest quality. All Canarian wines have a DOP classification, which means they are protected by their place of origin, and they are only produced on these islands and nowhere else. On Tenerife and Gran Canaria, there are several different DOP zones, while, for example, Lanzarote and La Palma islands are entirely DOP regions. DOP is the highest quality classification for wines, which is controlled by the relevant authorities.
DOP wines of canary
All Canarian wines have a DOP classification (read the green line on the bottle)

In conclusion: I apologize for not talking much and amateurishly about Canarian wines, but that’s how I can. Overall, you won’t stay sober on the islands; alcohol in the Canaries is accessible and cheap. I strongly recommend every tourist to try banana alcoholic drinks, honey rum, and of course, Canarian wines; they are special here because grapes grow on the slopes of volcanoes. And sangria is the national drink of Spain; you definitely won’t miss it, as it’s poured almost everywhere.

Useful links to help you plan your dream trip to Canary Islands:

  • Car Rental: LocalRent or DiscoverCars – the most popular car rental platforms.

  • Accommodation:
    • Trip.com – the largest accommodation booking platform.

    • or TripAdvisor – to compare prices among other platforms and choose the best one.

  • Budget-friendly vacation packages to Spain and Canary Islands: CheapOair.

  • Tours and activities: GetYourGuide or Viator – hundreds of offers, whales and dolphins, entrance tickets with discounts.

  • eSIM and internet: Airalo.

  • Flights: WayAway compares prices among dozens of companies.

  • Travel Insurance: EKTA.