1906 Stories Behind a Beer is an immersive and site-specific project for 1906 Beers.

We took Joaquín Sabina, an iconic musician, and Benjamin Prado, a poet, to 6 different bars in 6 different districts of Madrid and in each one they sat and drank a 1906 beer. We used a binaural microphone to record 6 unique conversations in which they talked about music, poetry, Madrid and, of course, our 1906 beer.

After this, people could exclusively listen to each of these conversations in each of the bars where we recorded them. You just had to order a 1906 beer, download the conversation, put your headphones on and share the beer with Joaquín and Benjamin in this immersive experience.

A recent study for the organization “Cerveceros de España” revealed that the people of Madrid’s preferred celebrity to share a beer with was the cult musician Joaquín Sabina, the Spanish Bob Dylan. Sabina is also very related to Madrid as an iconic artist that has written many songs about the city.

But, Sabina had never accepted an advertising deal before even though Mahou, one of our main competitors and Madrid’s iconic beer, had made big offers to have him.

Benjamín Prado: I would love to understand if this bar we are in, Picnic, has anything to do with the film Picnic? … I think it was directed by Joshua Logan and with Kim Novak in the main role. Oh, that scene where she comes down the stairs…

Joaquín Sabina: I can’t remember Joshua Logan but I can remember Kim Novak for sure.

Benjamin: Yes, yes. Her most famous moments in the cinema where Picnic, by the way I believe the font of the film poster and the font of the bar look alike …

Joaquín: Yes, yes. I agree and this bar has this kitsch style that works altogether. If you see one alone it looks horrible, but when you have loads of elements it really works. I like this bar, it seems very hospitable.

Benjamín: Yes, I agree. I was also thinking that we have descended the Cava street to meet in this bar, and Kim descended those stairs. That stair descending alongside the one in the film Sunset Boulevard are probably the two most famous ones.

Joaquín: Let’s change the subject that I’m thinking more about Kim than about the beer. I’m going to have a sip.

I was telling you that, after sharing many gigs together, it would have never crossed my mind that we would meet to chat about something as fascinating as beer.

Benjamín: No, it didn’t cross my mind. Well, beer did cross my mind but the morning after going out. When I woke up.

[Joaquín and Benjamín laugh]

Benjamín: There is one thing that is true, it’s quite impossible to picture yourself talking about all those things you love without a beer in your hand.

Joaquín: For me it would be impossible whether I was chatting or writing, writing a song for example. Beer is the most social beverage. It’s not very alcoholic, it’s less vilified than other spirits and it does make you a bit euphoric.

And I will tell you why this is the first time that I’m doing something that looks like advertising. I had a rule that I have kept up to today: I would only do an ad for something I considered worthy or that I really liked. And I love beer. This one we have here is the Black one, but there are another two. And what I like of this beer is that it merges tradition and innovation as well as a great craftmanship.

Benjamín: Of course, it has tradition [We hear them toast] Think of the year: 1906. Did you know that the first radio broadcast happened in the year 1906.

Joaquín: And the first Russian Revolution. The democratic one.

Benjamín: And it was the year Billy Wilder was born, for example.

Joaquín: That’s not a bad one either.

Benjamín: I always remember a piece Wilder gave in his biography for when you are filming but that we can also use when writing a song or a poem.

He said, there are two ways to start a film: one where a room lights up and Cary Grant comes in …

Joaquín: The window!

Benjamín: The door! That’s the bad one. If he comes in the window … that is the good option because you have all the spectators wondering what happened before the film started. It’s such a great piece of advice for when you start writing.

Joaquín: It’s a great piece of advice, but we also owe Billy Marilyn’s leggy New York appearance. And that is a great achievement also.

Benjamín: As you know we are both avid biography readers.

Joaquín: Yes, we are.

Benjamín: And it’s always funny how the director, musician or poet says how they have done certain things. Where does the inspiration come from? If it ever appears, that is.

The word inspiration … inspiration means putting something that is out, putting it in somehow.

Joaquín: Yes, but it is also quite controversial. Journalist normally ask what inspires us

[Joaquín laughs] and the truth is that we nourish from life; what we live, what we see, from the masters that teach us.

Benjamín: And we also nourish from this: conversations, friends …

Joaquín: And beer.

Benjamín: Yes, also beer. All of these mixed up.

Joaquín: I like this beer. It’s the Black Coupage. There hasn’t been a huge tradition in Spain for black beers. I used to drink black beer when I was in London; the traditional Guinness. And that was being a rebel because the rest was drinking normal beer.

This beer also makes me remember something that makes me emotional: a song from Javier Khrae that was called “The Black sheep”.

Because they also call this Black Beer the Black sheep.

Let me just recite 8 verses:

“The Black sheep sold its wool

swearing it was astrakhan.

The peddler, that bitch!, became richer

than the Aga Khan.

And the family is happy watching it

the good eater, become fat.

And she remembers her black wool,

That she will never see grow again.

Benjamín: I have never been so moved by a sheep. [They both laugh]

But Khrae is a great song-builder, he is like a jeweler. Such a great storyteller.

Joaquín: I have always said that he was one of the greatest masters but this country didn’t recognize him. It is true that he had is audience and he felt happy amongst them, but Brassens that would be his equal sold 20 million records in France … without leaving France.

Benjamín: There is even a bar called the Black Sheep in his honor where singer-songwriters go. What I’m not sure about him is if he drank beer or he preferred other liquors.

Joaquín: Well, I think that everybody drinks beer. Let me explain: you wouldn’t drink a whiskey just before lunch. You would have a beer.

Khrae did drink gin-tonic and whiskey, but in the morning or before lunch he had his beer.

Benjamín: I’m also remembering that “The Black Sheep” or something like that is the title for one of the books of Augusto Monterroso’s, the Guatemalan writer that is well known for his stories.

Joaquín: [Laughs] Yes, Monterroso, the author whose whole work could fit in 10 pages.

Benjamín: Also The Black Sheep is the title of a collection published in Colombia where you could find García Márquez’s Chronicle of a Death Foretold.

Joaquín: Yes, and it sold more than 1 million copies. So, imagine how happy the publisher was.

Benjamín: He was as good as the Beatles writing songs.

[Drinks] Mmmm… I really like this beer. It is true that traditionally in Spain we tend to drink more “blonde” beers because we have “cañas” (100ml glass), but now people are starting to ask for bottled beers.

Joaquín: 1906 has bottles but also barrels. This is more craft, more gourmet than other beers … and I really like the fact that they have a black beer.

Benjamín: And specially if it’s a Black sheep that describes us two so well.

[They both laugh]

Benjamín: I was telling you that beer has all to do with friends, a very comfortable and familiar environment, conversation and that is why the beer receives so many friendly names: “chela”, “birra” …

Joaquín: A “Birra”, for example … Mmmmm, I like this path we are going down. Look, beer is not very present in poetry. Maybe you have a couple of examples where it appears, but it’s not very usual.

Benjamín: Yes, you have Bukowski. He drank a lot of beer. Also Stevenson that has a poem dedicated to beer where he says something like “the secret of drinking”.

Joaquín: I like the song Vazquez Montalbán used to vindicate: “He was handsome and blonde like beer”. That was a beautiful song.

I bring this up because what I really wanted to say is that Rock and Roll is pure beer. Did you know that, it must be about 10 years ago, before going on tour, The Rolling Stones did a press conference in New York and one journalist said: “You carry on working just for the money, right?”. And Keith Richards said: “Money, but also the girls and the beer”.

[They both laugh]

Benjamín: So Keith drinks beer, but the other one eats avocado. Did you know that everybody would ask Mick Jagger for the devil’s phone number so that they could make a deal with him? How can you be in your 70’s and in such good shape? So, he said something that was clearly untrue: “I always have an avocado for breakfast”. But you just have to see Keith Richards to understand that he clearly doesn’t eat avocado.

[They both laugh]

Benjamín: Did I ever tell you that I interviewed Keith Richards a couple of times?

Joaquín: Yes, you did. And Cohen also.

Benjamín: Yes, and Cohen also. Keith was really funny. I would ask him about, you know, what we are talking about know … how can you keep writing songs after more than 50 years? I truly believe that their songs are brilliant, there are always at least 2 or 3 really good ones.

Joaquín: Yes, an apart from the songs … it’s their personal stamp. Their style.

Benjamín: Exactly. And I would ask: how do you guys work? And Keith would say “Mick and I do the music, lyrics and music arrangements … and from time to time we let Ronnie send a fax”.

[They both laugh]

Joaquín: They once asked Tom Waits if he required his crew to have a sense of humor. And he answered that obviously he did. And that if he told a joke and they didn’t laugh, they were out. [Joaquín laughs]

Benjamín: I was also thinking that in 1906 Paco Ayala, a good friend of ours, was born. He was probably the most long-lived writer in Spain.

Joaquín: How old was he? A hundred and something …?

Benjamín: I think it was 103 years. And when they were going to celebrate his 100-birthday party with this big event where the Royals, the Prime Minister, the presidents of the different academies where going to go … and it was going to be on a Friday. So, I spoke to Paco. You know that he was from Granada and had a peculiar sense of humor from there …

Joaquín: The Lamalafollá character

Benjamín: Yes, exactly. So this party was on a Friday and we were having dinner, Luis García Montero and myself, with him on a Wednesday and he said something fantastic:

I’m imagining a great prank. We asked what it was. He said to die on Thursday.

[Joaquín laughs]

We created an immersive and site-specific piece of audio that generated the experience that you were sharing a beer with the idol Joaquín Sabina (The Spanish Bob Dylan) and his friend Benjamín Prado. 6 bars and 6 unique conversations.