Fix Hellas by Olympic Brewery
Greek beer is hard to find in the United States, or at least my part of it. The only two I’ve had have been Mythos (pretty bland and kind of skunky) and Crazy Donkey IPA (a real craft beer from Santorini Brewing Company). So I was happy that I saw that my local Greek coffee shop Opa started carrying this. Fix Hellas claims to be the oldest beer brand in Greece, founded by Ioannis Fix in 1850 (shortly after Greece’s liberation from Turkish rule). Fix had been living in Bavaria before this time so his desire to make beer came from his experience living there. Fix Hellas is very much a Euro-lager but also very much a better one than Mythos. It has a semi-sweet, German-like malt backbone but a hint of hop bitterness to balance everything out. I also get a lot of minerals in the flavor. This latter characteristic is something I’ve noticed in all Greek alcoholic beverages I’ve had actually. Must be something in the water they use. Fix Hellas, for a light lager, is a pretty decent beer that I would have again in the right setting (like with some spanakopita).
