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.
Unfortunately for Otto, he was not very popular and after less than
20 years on the thrown he was removed from his thrown and a new king
was sent down from Germany to take his place.
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 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. 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. In 1998 a new Greek brewery began operation. This particular
beer is called "Mythos" and is brewed by an old wine making family,
"Boutari". Despite a respectable advertising and promotional campaign,
they have barely managed to now hold approximately 7% of the market.
There are hundreds of other imported beers available in Greece but they
are not of any significance.
Regards from sunny Athens, Greece.
Tom Mazarakis
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