Corfu Beer Festival
Guest Blog by Alex Christou
of www.greencorfu.com
Celebrating Beer in Corfu
All Photos (c) Alex Christou
This October, the 1st Corfu Beer Festival was held in Arillas, in North West Corfu. It was organised by our local Corfu Microbrewery, in close cooperation with the local community. It took a lot of work, and more than 150 volunteers were involved in the planning, setting up, advertising and actually running the Festival. The Festival lasted five days, from 9-13 October, and it was a bigger success than we could ever have imagined! Thousands of people visited the festival grounds, tasted the beers, local food and local products offered, enjoyed the music and danced along to many different tunes: Corfiot, Greek and German!
Corfu meets Bavaria
The theme was Corfu meets Bavaria. We chose Bavaria because it is the homeland of beer as we know it. The Law on the Purity of Beer (Reinheitsgebot) was made an official law of Bavaria back in 1516! Also in Munich, the capital of Bavaria, the annual Oktoberfest is held, the biggest and oldest beer festival in the world! So, the idea was that this festival could bring together Greeks and Germans to drink, eat and dance, leaving behind the politics that are trying to separate us.
Corfu Beer Festival: The Beers
The Corfu Microbrewery is a small but fast-growing brewery, producing some of the best beers in Greece. All their beers are fresh, unpasteurised and delicious. They produce two types of real ale, plus a lager, a pilsner, and a special beer re-fermented with honey. They were commissioned by JD Wetherspoon to produce a real ale called Koroibos exclusively for the London Olympics. With their connections they managed to get four German brewers to come to Corfu and brew four different wheat beers (Weizenbier) exclusively for the festival.
Food
There was a wide selection of food at the Corfu Beer Festival, from traditional Greek souvlakia to German weisswurst, and from local specialties such as sofrito and pastitsada to recipes created by accomplished Corfiot chefs especially for the occasion. (See Greece Travel Secrets’ Corfu Food and Drink page.)
Music and Dance
There was a diverse music program, changing every night. The stars were the traditional band Zuaweziaga from Bavaria, along with the Rosenheim dancers who performed their impressive dances in lederhosen every night. From the Greek side we had two to three different bands or dance groups each night, performing music ranging from traditional music and rembetika to opera and Queen covers! Dancing went on till deep in the night...
Seminars
In the mornings, when most of us were recovering from the previous night, seminars were organised on different subjects. There was of course a seminar on beer, but also seminars on bartending, cooking and olive oil, all presented by experienced professionals and acclaimed scientists.
The best thing of the whole festival though was the relaxed atmosphere. We may have had more than 10,000 people who drank about as many liters of beer, but there wasn’t a single misunderstanding or fight in the whole five days! It was a great experience and we are all looking forward to next year’s Corfu meets the UK festival (8-12 October 2014), with participants from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland!
Where to Stay on Corfu
Other Corfu pages
These Corfu shopping tips include advice on buying souvenirs like ceramics, jewelry, gold, silver, wood carvings, and food and drink, with tips on haggling.
These fun facts about Corfu include how the island got its name, who wrote the Greek National Anthem, and the eccentric Englishman, the Earl of Guilford.
Corfu Town is the capital of Corfu and of the Ionian Islands and has museums, two forts, several museums, churches, and many other attractions.
Corfu or Kerkyra is the main island in the Greek Ionian islands with Corfu Town being one of the most attractive of Greek island capitals.
If you want to tour northern Corfu in three days you can see busy resorts, quiet fishing villages, Mount Pantokrator, and the Andinioti Lagoon.
Corfu writers and artists inspired by the island include both residents and visitors, like Gerald and Lawrence Durrell, Edward Lear, and Henry Miller.
The best things to do on Corfu include visiting Palaiokastritsa, a day trip to Albania, seeing the Achilleion Palace, and the museums in Corfu Town.
Corfu’s wildlife includes rare and colourful birds, snakes, lizards, fireflies, and insects, with plenty of places to watch the wildlife like lakes and lagoons.
The Korission Lagoon on the west coast of Corfu is also called Lake Korission and has abundant wildlife, especially birds, and one of the best beaches on Corfu.
Northern Corfu is the most diverse part of the island, with Corfu's highest point, Mt Pantokrator, and beach resorts like Sidari and Palaiokastritsa.
From Nero to Nicolas Cage, the invasion of Corfu goes back to Roman times and through to Hollywood today!
There are three islands off the northwest coast of Corfu, Erikouusa, Othoni and Mathraki, popular with day-trippers from resorts like Sidari.
Kassiopi is a popular tourist resort on the northeast coast of Corfu with a sandy beach, Byzantine fortress, old church, and lots of places to stay and to eat.
Paleokastritsa is on the west coast of Corfu and is one of the most popular holiday spots. This page gives information on beaches, boat trips, weather and map.
Corfu Town’s Old Fortress is the town’s most striking landmark, standing east of the Old Town on top of a rocky promontory.
Greece Travel Secrets’ pick of where to stay in southern Corfu including hotels in Moraïtika, Paramonas, Messonghi, Agios Georgios, and near Benitses.
Southern Corfu has busy beach resorts like Benitses, historical buildings like the Achilleion Palace and Gardiki Castle, and wildlife at the Korision Lagoon.
This Southern Corfu drive starts and ends in Moraïtika, taking in hill villages, secluded beaches, lovely views, and a visit to Gardiki Castle.
Benitses is a popular resort town south of Corfu Town with its own marina, remains of a Roman Baths, an old town, and plenty of walks inland.
Angelokastro is a 13th-century hilltop fortress with breath-taking views near Paleokastritsa on the Greek island of Corfu in the Ionian Islands.
Greece Travel Secrets recommends where to stay in north-west and central Corfu including luxury mansions, inexpensive rooms, and resort hotels.
Greece Travel Secrets picks where to stay in northern Corfu with budget and luxury hotels in Sidari, Daphnila Bay, Kontokali, Ipsos, Barbati and more.
This guide to southern Corfu’s beaches and villages includes busy resorts, quiet beach, hill villages and the southernmost tip of Corfu at Cape Asprókavos.
North-West Corfu’s beaches and villages include busy resorts, quiet beaches, hill villages, and places ideal for watching the sunset,
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