In search of craft beer for tasting in Thessaloniki

3 months ago (Edited)

When you are in an unknown city with a company that is not interested in drinking beer, the options for a beer lover (me in this case) are limited.
You can only find out the location of Pubs that pour craft beer on the Internet, because the receptionist at the hotel looks at you with surprise when you ask him something like that. Probably because he is a foreigner in that city like me 🙂

Once you know the locations of the recommended pubs, you can steal some time from the company and go to the nearest Pub that Google shows you, while the company enjoys cakes in a nearby pastry shop.

An interesting sign that calls for beer, but they don't offer anything from Craft beer.

They offer Erdinger, Paulaner, Heineken, Guinness, as well as local beers, Mythos, Alfa, Fix, Vergina or Mamos. They didn't even have Nymfi, which I heard is the best of all listed Greek beers and which I would probably order if they had it on offer.
Too bad I missed the cakes for nothing 🙁

That's why I decided to go from the hotel later by myself to a PUB that promised both the name and the number of craft beers they serve (on their website).
The Hoppy pub.

A bus ride and a short walk does not end with a beer tasting, but ends with the door of the pub locked, even though it should be open due to the listed working hours.
Probably the reason for the closed pub in the very center of the city is the one I mentioned in the previous post.

The city seems empty and many shops have been closed for a long time. And bars too...?

I walked to the next Pub that was on the Google map. Pulp bar.
And he's locked...
I gave up and went back to the hotel.

The next evening, I decided on a different strategy.
My company and I chose a restaurant for dinner, to which we went along the route on which there was another Pub from Google maps.
After dinner, we passed the square where the Pub is located and I saw that it was open.
Beer school.
Excellent. I'll come there alone the next day, because after dinner, there's no way I'll drink a few beers, and it's stupid that the company is waiting for me on the side, because what do they do in a pub if they don't drink alcohol 🙂

In order to have a beer to present for this week's #beersaturday contest, on Saturday evening, I left the hotel and headed to the Beer school Pub.
When I crossed the square, I found the garden closed and the bar locked.
Shit.
Even today there is no craft beer in the local pub...🙁

On the way to the hotel, I stopped at a larger market and picked up three craft beers that I found there. Although the selection is large (shelves full of industrial beers, already listed in the PUB offer from the beginning of the post), in this market there were only these three bottles.
It doesn't matter, it's quite enough for one evening, especially for tasting in a hotel room.

I left the bottles for the beer to warm up a bit, because it was in the fridge at the supermarket, and PALE ALE and IPA are best drunk at room temperature. That's why the bottles are a little "sweaty"

I will not comment on the glass from which I will drink these beers, I "pulled" it from the hotel restaurant. Any glass cup is better than the plastic one I could buy in the market.

These are the beers of two breweries, each a sample from their offer.
One Kirki brewery, which started production in 2015 from Piraeus, and the other Valtinger, founded in 2012 in the village of Valta, Kassadndrea, Halkidiki.
Valtinger Brewery produces the following beers:
Valtinger Hop ON IPA 6.5%, 330ml
Valtinger She is A HERO Session Neipa 4.9% 330 ml
Valtinger Golden Honey Ale 5.6% 330ml
Valtinger Chalkidiki Pilsner 5.5% 330ml

I only bought Golden Honey ale from Valtinger beer, but judging by the taste and quality of the beer, I will look for somewhere else to drink another beer from this brewery, or at least look for it in markets, if I can't find a Pub that works...
Hop ON IPA and Session Neipa seem interesting to me.

And what is Golden Honey Ale like?
Light ALE beer with 5.6% alcohol.
It has a fairly thick foam that holds well, and at the first sip, you can feel a pleasant note of honey that can be felt in your mouth even after drinking the beer.

As for the Kirki brewery from Piraeus, they have the following beers in their production:
Kirki Pale Ale,
Picky IPA and
Niki Amber Lager.
And they make it with a pid slogan:
"No filter, no pasteurisation, just pure unspoiled beer for your pleasure"

If I had found Niki Amber Lager, I would have tried their entire offer, this way, I can present you two.

Kirki Pale Ale with 5.5% alcohol.
Although unfiltered and unpasteurized, it is a very light beer. The color is light orange.
Bitterness is balanced by sweet elements of barley malt. It has an aroma of floral notes, citrus fruits and hazelnuts.
514 failed attempts to finally create Kirkis magical recipe.
"A witch, a queen, do you dare to defy her?"
Honestly, I didn't feel any of these aromas during the tasting.
Maybe they should have tried to make 515 😁

Pirki IPA beer
A hoppy beer with 5.5% alcohol, dominated by citrus and tropical fruit notes.

The color is beautiful light orange. A rich foam that lasts for a long time and that gives these citrus notes on the smell and taste.

"Pirki got spelled by Kirki to be bitter hoppy and taste like other beer before."
"No glitter, no filter, just the finest damn bitter".

Considering the gentle wind that cooled me on the hotel terrace while drinking this beer, maybe I'm glad I didn't drink it in some smoky pub.

While I was driving from the beach the next day and thinking about whether I would still find a PUB in this city, for the following Saturday, the advertisement on the bus indicated the following: I am not in the wrong city, but I am here two weekends earlier, considering that the last weekend is holding a four-day Beer Festival in August, and I won't be there then.