La Tape opened one of Madrid's first banks of rotating craft taps on Calle de San Bernardo, at the edge of Malasaña. Eight lines pour a changing mix of Spanish micro-brews and imports, backed by a kitchen that treats food as a pairing partner rather than an afterthought. The room reads as a neighbourhood local that happens to take beer seriously.
The bar traces back to 1996 under the name La Tapería and took the La Tape name in 2012, when the owners installed eight revolving taps. According to esMadrid, that tap wall was a first for the city, and the list still skews toward smaller artisanal producers rather than the macro lagers most Madrid bars default to.
The space splits over two floors. The ground level holds the bar, a corner cafeteria, and a small shop, while the upstairs dining room handles the longer sit-down meals. Time Out notes the kitchen builds dishes to match the beer, with gluten-free options worked into the menu.
Hours run long for a beer bar, from mid-morning to around 2am on weekdays and from late morning on weekends, which makes it as useful for a coffee-and-tap afternoon as a late session. Tripadvisor reviewers describe a relaxed, modern room and praise the staff for talking drinkers through the rotating list.
Because the taps change often, regulars treat the board as the menu and ask what landed that week. Styles move across the spectrum, so a visit can run from a hazy pale ale to a darker stout depending on the rotation.
La Tape sits within a short walk of Madrid's other craft strongholds. Pair it with the house brews at Fabrica Maravillas, the tank beer at Naturbier, or the beer-and-pizza counter at Pez Tortilla for a full Malasaña beer crawl.
The tap list is the reason to come, and it changes weekly, so the board functions as the real menu. Spanish producers from Madrid, Galicia, and the Basque Country share the lines with rotating guest imports, and the staff pour tasters for anyone deciding between styles. Foursquare and Tripadvisor reviewers consistently rate the beer selection above the food, though the kitchen holds its own.
Pairing drives the menu upstairs, where dishes are matched to the beers on that week, and gluten-free options are written in rather than improvised. Time Out describes the cooking as careful for a beer bar, which fits the venue's "craft beers, food and tape away" motto. Prices sit at the mid range for the neighbourhood.
The crowd is a mix of after-work locals, students from the nearby universities, and beer travellers working through Malasaña. It reads as a reliable, unpretentious local rather than a destination tap house, and that is its strength. Anyone after macro lager will find little here, which is the point.
Timing shapes the experience. Mornings and early afternoons run as a quiet café-and-tap stop, while evenings build toward the late close, and weekends start later. Tripadvisor reviewers suggest claiming a spot before the after-work rush if the upstairs dining room is the goal, since the pairing menus are best appreciated at a table rather than standing at the bar. The shop downstairs also sells bottles to take away.
Madrid came late to craft beer compared with Barcelona, and a handful of early bars carried the scene before it spread. La Tape's decision to commit eight taps to small producers in 2012 helped normalise rotating beer in a city built on caña and vermut, and the room has kept that role since. It reads now as part of the established furniture of Malasaña drinking rather than a novelty.
Keep exploring with our best craft beer bars in Madrid guide, the full Madrid bar guide, and our edit of the best craft beer bars worldwide.
Sources: Time Out Madrid, the city tourism board's esMadrid listing, Tripadvisor, and Yelp. Last verified June 2026.