Greece
Breweries on the map
Cyclades Microbrewery (Nissos)
On Tinos, island of pilgrimage, carved dovecotes and marble villages, the Cyclades Microbrewery created Nissos in 2012 — an old-school pilsner that became one of Greece's most respected craft beers, regularly medalled at international competitions. Alongside it, the 7 Beaufort pays dark-beer tribute to the winds that sweep the archipelago and sometimes pin the ferries in port. The brewery takes part in the open-breweries network and welcomes visitors: a stop that gives Tinos, between the Panagia Evangelistria and the tavernas of Volax, one more argument against its neighbour Mykonos — depth rather than noise.
Magnus Magister
In Rhodes, where the Street of the Knights and the Palace of the Grand Masters tell two centuries of the Order of Saint John, Magnus Magister picked its historical side right down to its name — 'Grand Master' — and its labels: the Knights Beer of Rodos, the Magnus Lager and the Magnus Weiss. The brewery brings the craft argument to the largest island of the Dodecanese, whose fortified old town, a UNESCO site, forms one of the Mediterranean's finest medieval ensembles. After the butterflies of Petaloudes, the acropolis of Lindos or the ramparts at sunset, a Magnus on a new-town terrace extends the visit by one sip of hopped Middle Ages.
Mykonos Brewing Company
On the island of the winds, where the Chora windmills and the white lanes of Little Venice draw the entire planet, the Mykonos Brewing Company brews the Mikonu range — the local answer to bar lists dominated by international brands. A member of the Hellenic brewers' association open-breweries network, it welcomes visitors curious to see what lies behind the party: very real kettles, a few minutes from Psarou and Paradise beaches. For the enthusiast, ordering a Mikonu in Ano Mera or on the old port is a way of giving Mykonos a moment of island authenticity between two beach clubs.
Santorini Brewing Company
Founded in 2011 by four partners in Mesa Gonia, amid the assyrtiko vines, the Santorini Brewing Company was the island's first — and for a long time only — brewery. Its donkeys became icons: Yellow Donkey bitter ale, Red Donkey red ale and Crazy Donkey, Greece's first bottled IPA, exported to the United States as early as 2013. Brewed with local ingredients whenever the thin volcanic soil allows, unfiltered and unpasteurised, the beers are best tasted at the source, five minutes from the Exo Gonia wineries and the ancient site of Akrotiri, away — well, slightly — from the Oia crowds. The hopped counterpoint to the Cyclades' most famous wine.
No brewery for this initial.