Beer in Greece

Beer has been brewed in Greece since about 1850. The first brewmaster was a Bavarian named Fuchs who was the personal brewmaster to the newly appointed King of Greece, Otto. Otto was a German prince from Bavaria who was selected by the English and the Germans to reign in Greece after the Greeks obtained their freedom from the Turks. 

The new King brough his own brewmaster and therefore Mr. Fuchs was out of a job. Instead of going back to Bavaria, Mr. Fuchs opened 
his own brewery in Athens in the area called Kolonaki, in 1864 and began to market his beverage called "FIX" beer to the Greeks. His brewery grew slowly but surely as the Greeks began to obtain a taste for beer.  In 1893 John’s successor, Charles Fix, transferred the brewery in Sigrou Highway, where it was a very modern brewery for that time. The family business flourished until about 1960 when the first real competition arrived.

Amstel of Holland opened the first competitive brewery which was soon followed by Heineken, Henniger, and finally Carlsberg. The new competitors used every trick in the book in order to increase their respective market shares. They waged exhaustive price wars and implemented intensive advertising and promotional campaigns which eventually put the Fix brewery out of business. The smaller breweries of Henninger and Carsberg also closed their doors shortly thereafter. For many years Amstel and Heineken have quietly taken over 98% of the market. 

Mythos Breweries ranks number two in the Greek beer market. It is owned by the listed beverage business John Boutari Holdings SA - Greece's leading wine producer and distributor - which acquired it from Kronenbourg in 1992. Despite a respectable advertising and promotional campaign,  they have barely managed to now hold approximately 7% of the market.

The Henninger brewery, a member of the Boutaris group is less dominant than in the past, while Boutaris has put its main efforts behind developing the Mythos brand, launched in 1997, which it claims now has around 15% of the Greek market. Among other new beer brands in the market is Fix Hellas, a re-introduction of the famous name, by the wine-maker Kourtakis, in June 2000. 

Beer production in Greece:

Brands and breweries present on greek market:

                                                                                                             Links:

                    Essay of Mr. Mazarakis

                  Athenian Brewery

Amstel - Greece