Finding good beer in Crete?

Yasas!

   am in the Crete, Sougia to be precise, supping a cold Erdinger in a bar overlooking the beach. It's rather ace - but what about the beer?

We haven't got to Chania yet so news on Charma Dark and Lager will have to follow. Here in Sougia the excellent Polyfimos still advertises Craft from Athens in bottles but it's not been available anywhere so far and this suggests the info on Ratebeer about the brewery closing is true.

In Rethymno the local beer was fairly easy to find, and two new beery venues have emerged. The Pottery Cafe has changed its name to the Garden of Ali Vafis Cultural venue - and they have added guest draught (keg) beers, advertised on a chalk board. On two visits there was Fix Lager and Dark, plus Berliner lager and Augustijn Dubbel. OK, so no-one seems to know who brews the Berliner but it and the dark are excellent. In Crete you have to lower your beer expectations accordingly...

Which brings me to Beeraria - which Ratebeer made a mess on its self over. This is a decent idea poorly delivered - a good beer menu lists Euro faves but none of the local draught or bottled exotica listed by reviewers on Ratebeer, ahem.. however when one comes to order, the beer is unavailable - after four no shows (response "it is hard to get") we gave up, having had a poor Franziskaner and Mythos draught, and no complimentary nibbles for about 9euro. Pooer!

Finally, Paleochora, and Portofino still does draught Pilsner Urqell, but the real star is Aghios cafe bar, offering Fix dark in bottles along with Chimay, and the full range at that.

I must leave you now before I put my fist through this infuriating laptop! More news to follow back in Blighty.

Cheers

Wee Beefy

Cretan bulletin

       Hello (yassas)

   just a quick message from Crete. There is relatively little to report in terms of Cretan breweries, imagined or otherwise and unfortunately I haven't made it to Chania this time so no opportunity has been had to check if the Charma brand is still produced.

Brinks Rethimnian organic is available in restaurants in Rethymnon, but few bars stock it, except those charging a premium. I am staying in Plakias on the South coast and one of the contributory factors in choosing this destination was the availability of Craft beer from Athens. Mercifully, I have been able to find it. I'm not saying it would make the holiday experience much less enjoyable if it had not been on sale, but lets just say its a damned relief that it is available.

On the rocks bar in Plakias is still the place to go for Craft - they have the pilsner on draught (Euro 4.00) as well as their full bottled range for about 3 Euro, but otherwise its Draught Alfa or Mythos, between 3 and 4 Euro, and rebadge contract brewed German copies like Kaiser.

The only other notable news is the emergence of a schooner measure - the 500ml large measure is ambiguous enough but a Schooner at 400ml is a bit mean when its still 4 Euro a pop.

So that's all I have, can't wait to have a lovely pint of real ale in my hand - in the rain, soon

Wee Beefy

More from crete

Hello,

      we are nearing the end of the holiday, sat in unhelpful near dark in an internet cafe in Agios. On the last day in Chania I found a Craft outlet and had good beer at a bar that has an Asterix theme on the menu but no name (distinguishable by its odd multi-coloured model of an ostrich type bird on the right hand side of the entrance - I kid you not)! We had 4 fantastic days in Paleochora, Portofino still sells Pilsner Urquell and now also Craft bottles at a decent price, otherwise the beer ranges have been poor (but beaches fantastic and sea clear and warm..)

We are staying in Kritsa, and have been drinkiing what turns out to be a Greek beer, Magnus Magister pils, in Castello, as we always do.  We are off to Elounda today to see Dimitri and then Maria in Kato Elounda, and hopefully we'll get some Brinks Rethymnian in Rethymno tomorrow.

Cheers

Wee Beefy.