Recent Developments
In recent years, Greek beer has begun to fight back. The most significant development occurred in the mid 1990s with the opening of the Mythos Brewery in Salonica, northern Greece.

Mythos, a light beer brewed in the pilsner tradition and named after the Greek word for ‘Legend’, was unveiled in 1997 and within a year it became Greece’s second biggest beer. The success of Mythos served to inspire other Greek breweries and, in the last ten years or so, a number of domestic and small-batch breweries have begun brewing some impressive beers ranging from lip-smacking pilsners to smoked beers and ales brewed using wheat and spices.

The Craft Brewery, a brewpub in Athens, is blazing a particularly innovative trail (yet sadly doesn’t export) while there are around a dozen Greek breweries slaking the thirst of both tourists and locals.

Given Greek beer’s Germanic roots and Greece’s temperate climate, it is little surprise that the vast majority of domestic beers are light coloured, lager-style beers. Perfect accompaniments to seafood, fish and salads, they’re also ideal for rolling across one’s forehead after a hard day’s toil (or tanning) in the sun.Tasting.

Tasting
MYTHOS BREWERY

Mythos Hellenic Lager, 5%
ABV Pale-straw coloured lager that delivers a generous, frothy head. A sweet, shortbread aroma with a hint of grapefruit, a creamy mouthfeel and a very light hop bitterness on the finish. Best served chilled.

Mythos Red, 5.5%
Faint caramel aroma, sweet toffee on the nose and a juicy malt mouthfeel. The finish is short and refreshing for a dark beer. It would complement seared meat or steamed seafood.

MACEDONIAN THRACE BREWERY

Vergina Red, 5.8%
Caramel and sweet toffee flavours spearhead this
dark copper-coloured Vienna-style lager from the north-eastern Greek town of Komotini. The finish is long and lingering with touches of nuts, prunes and autumnal fruit. Vergina, 5% Extremely light-coloured lager that doesn’t ask questions as it slips down. Initial traces of butterscotch and corn give way to a very short finish. Crisp, clean yet hardly a complex beer.

RETHYMNIAN BREWERY

Crete Rethymnian Dark, 4.8%
From the island of Crete comes this amber-hued Dunkel-style beer that’s packaged, unpasteurized and unfiltered, in a funky swing-top bottle. An unsteady sweetcorn aroma thankfully subsides to reveal a juicy malt-driven body and a faint grassy, herbal hop finish. An unusual but perfectly drinkable effort.Rethymnian Blonde, 4.8% A hazy golden organic blonde lager that looks, smells and tastes like a Bavarian wheat beer. Cloves, banana and bubblegum on the nose; lemongrass and apples on the palate; and a creamy, pear-drop aftertaste. Strange, sweet and sure to polarize opinion.

ATHENIAN BREWERY S.A.
Marathon, 5%
First brewed in Greece in 1971, Marathon is a mass-produced beach beer that will quench one’s thirst without challenging your tastebuds. Marathon delivers a faint fruity finish and a subtle floral bitterness.