Athens – Cerveseria Catalana

This beer shop and bar was something of an accidental find, but I’m very pleased that we did discover it during our perambulations. I didn’t take a photo of the exterior, other than this one when sitting outside, but it looked enticing from the exterior. Richard doesn’t like high chairs at his age, so we had to sit at the lower down tables but I didn’t of course make any complaint or comment. The graffiti is a little sub-optimal, but such is Athens life unfortunately.

There was a circular staircase inside that led to this rather charming little upstairs seating area. When we entered the venue, the staff member was engaging and enthusiastic about the beers and was very keen to offer recommendations. I was busy faffing about with Untappd to find a beer that I hadn’t had before, something which did slow matters down somewhat. It’s quite hard for me to type some Greek beers into Untappd to see if I’ve had them as their alphabet doesn’t coincide with the alphabet on my phone. But, we got there in the end.

I started proceedings with the Play Punk! from Midnight Circus Gypsy Brewing which was rich with a taste of coffee, with some cherry added to the mix as well. Nice free snacks as well.

The Smoky Stout from Alea Brewing Co, which had plenty of dark chocolate going on. There was a bit of smokiness, a bit of collapsed cliff, a bit of burnt pebble and all that.

This was Richard’s beer that I tried some of, although I’d already had some a few days before, but I liked the Twix flavour that was going on, along with some flavours of coffee and vanilla.

The beer selection in the fridges was quite broad with most styles represented, although the staff member mentioned that there weren’t many sours as this wasn’t such a popular drink in Greece. The selection was mostly Greek beers and the choice seemed well curated to me. The surroundings were cosy and warm, although it wasn’t particularly busy when we were there. The venue has only recently opened and so I imagine it’ll get busy as it becomes less of a hidden secret, but I liked the ambience, reasonable pricing and the friendliness of the service. The aim of the bar is to be a small slice of Barcelona in the centre of Athens, which is an aim that I think they’ve delivered although the food selection is rather limited.