A bit of a back log now, but I won’t be travelling as much over the next few months, at least not abroad.
There was fresh snow on the roofs outside my hotel window in Switzerland, but I just had enough time to get some breakfast before heading back to the airport again. I already checked in, and a glace at the shopping mall after security confirmed my suspicions that the focus was more on watches and chocolate than beer.
The flight went without any more fuzz, and my suitcase even turned up at Athens airport after spending the night somewhere in the bowels of Zurich airport. (This is, presumably, where the gnomes are working nowadays).
Having done my homework, I went straight to the airport, but I did not take it all the way to Syntagma. Instead I went off at Andelokipi.
Early April, but the heat is already radiating from the asphalt and concrete as I step out on busy Alexandros avenue. It is easy to find my destination, right across the street.
I have written about the splendid beers from the Athens Craft brewery before, as I found several of them in the bars and cafes of the Cyclades two years ago. I have never had the chance to visit their home turf, however, so it was very convenient that the brewpub itself was on the way from the airport.
The brewpub is split in two. In the front it is like a conservatory where they probably roll back the rood on balmy summer evenings. In the back it is darker, with the brewing vessels dominating the room.
I orders a plate of grilled vegetables and a pint of their black lager, the only one of their regular beers I haven’t tasted earlier. The beer is dark with a red glow, crowned with a beige head. A whiff of smoke, a little liquorice, a little coffee. A hint of burned toast, too. There elements are by no means extreme, they just add up to a full spectrum of flavour in an easy drinking and refreshing lager.
Greece does not have the climate for barley wines, but rather for lighter beers that can be consumed in quantities, especially during the summer months. This is exactly what the Craft brewery delivers – but they brew them with flavour, which makes them stand out among the rather bland macro lagers you are usually stuck with.
Their smoked ale is off, so I have a pilsner before I, reluctantly, settle the bill and step out on the sidewalk to hail a taxi.
Note: They certainly brew beer on the premises. I am told, however, that they also have another brewery on the outskirts of Athens supplying beer to other bars and restaurants. The range seems to be the same, although many bars tend to have just one or two of the Craft beers.
Shame you missed the smoked beer (it was a lager when I was there). I loved it.
Regarding beer-traveller’s backlog, I find offline blogging in airport bars and on planes is a marvellous timesaver.
I had the smoked beer two years ago, but I wouldn’t mind another glass!
I shall be passing through Athens in August – what’s the approximate journey time from the airport to Craft?
40 minutes or so, and it’s the fastest way of getting into the centre anyway. From there you can take a taxi onwards or go back into the metro system. Are you continuing to the islands?
Yup – Lesvos (not my choice, but when you have an eight-year-old …) However, wife, child and friends will already be there, so I’m journeying out to join them on my own, and will have a four-hour stopover in Athens.
You can even get Craft to fill up take away bottles for your voyage.
[...] taking off, with all passengers pedalling hard, for Mytilini airport on Lesvos. The Nut and the Knut had already blogged about Craft in glowing enough words to make me want to try to get there if I had [...]
[...] Athens [...]