It is soon after the Greek liberation from the Turks. The country is making an effort to stand on its own two feet & to begin its reconstruction. Many European officers & technocrats come to help in this endeavour. Many of them are Germans & amongst them is Ioannis Fix who returns from Munich in search of his father.
His father’s assassination & the large Bavarian population in Greece at the time are what lead him to make his surname a landmark. Greece is traditionally a wine-producing country & our Northern friends miss their native drink, beer or zythos as it is called in Greek. So Ioannis produces the first Greek beer named FIX in 1850.
As time went by the Greeks fell in love with beer & big companies like “Athinaiki Zythopoiia”, which is the Greek Heineken branch, settled in the country. Amstel became a Greek beer in a magical way, the highlight being the paraphrasing of its name “αμ’στειλ’αυτόν” (am-stel-afton) meaning “go send him”. It is not a surprise, as the Dutch are known for their business acumen!
& we are now in a time of crisis… It is a time when many Greek microbreweries emerged all over the country & consumers have chosen to support local products. Greek beer is thriving & many products of our “own” breweries are of equal or even better taste than their foreign counterparts!
Yes, after all there is Greek beer & it’s made by local brewers with a vision & a lot of dedication…
At “greek foodtales” you can find the “Happy Brewers” & “Voreia Beers” from “Siris Microbrewery”, an excellent producer from Serres, Macedonia, Greece.
