Cyprus
About this brewery
The story of Photiades Breweries crosses two milestones of Cypriot beer. First Leon, the island's very first brewery, founded in 1937, of which the house — incorporated in 1963 — is the heir: its lion-crested lager, relaunched in 2003 to the original recipe in "all malt" form, remains the elder of local brands. Then Carlsberg: licensed in 1967, the brewery made Cyprus the first country in the world to brew the Dane outside Denmark, with such success that the group named the Cypriot plant its best international brewery in 1997. From its modern site in Dali, near Nicosia, the house remains the leader of the island market.