End. Over.
What started bumpy ends that way. It is with a heavy heart that we have decided to close TheBrewery forever and sell everything. So if anyone happens to want to buy a brewery, here you go.
Why? Nothing earned, too old for the hard catering business, the regulations, the costs, the relationship, the long winter, the location … Beer and food were good, it wasn’t because of that, we are sure. We sincerely thank all our staff, suppliers, craftsmen, the engineer, tax consultants, landlords and above all our guests. We will stay on the island … see you again!

Fällt aus!

TheBewery proudly presents …
Rock in the Sun. 9.9.2023. OFFSHORE:

Das Konzert
Offshore ist eine Freiburger Band um den Gitarristen, Sänger und Songwriter Jörg Deger mit Ulrich Kirchgässner an der Keyboards, dem Drummer Felix Schmidt und Martin (Himbu) Himmelsbach am Bass. Seit fast 50 Jahren steht Offshore für soliden und abwechslungsreichen Prog-Rock.

Kartenvorverkauf
Karten zu 80 EUR pro Person (Konzert, Essen, Bier, Wein und Softdrinks) bitte gleich reservieren. Hier bestellen: booking@thebrewery.gr. An info@ferienhaus-in-kavalos.de bitte per Paypal bezahlen.

Euer Urlaub auf Lefkada
Meer und Land sind im September angenehm warm, der Haupttrubel ist vorbei. Die wunderbaren türkisblauen Strände laden zum relaxen ein. Wer wandern will wandert und freut sich über die großartige Aussicht auf die umliegenden Inseln und das Festland. In den urigen Gässchen in Lefkas-Stadt lässt es sich schön bummeln. Überall gibt es gute, einfache oder auch gehobenere Restaurants, wenn ihr mal woanders als in TheBrewery speisen wollt. Die Insel ist 40 km lang und lässt sich mit genügend Stopps gut an einem Tag per Auto oder Zweirad umrunden. Hier gibt’s eine schöne Inselübersicht: https://lefkadaslowguide.gr/en/

Die Anreise
Der Zielflughafen ist Preveza und wird von Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, München, Österreich, Schweiz etc. direkt angeflogen.

Unterkunft und Mietwagen
Wir helfen euch bei der Suche, wenn ihr wollt. Am besten wohnt ihr im Inselnorden, dann ist es nah zur Event-Location. Auf vielen Portalen werden Unterkünfte aller Art angeboten. (Fewo.de, Booking.com, traumferienwohnungen.de, airbnb.de etc). Wenn ihr euch nicht sicher seid, beraten wir euch gerne (Tel. Marion 0049 1773172451). Unser Ferienhaus ist noch in der Zeit vom 30.8. bis 9.9. frei. www.villa-kavalos.de
Als Autovermietung empfehlen wir https://www.ioniancarrental.com/de/. Die Autovermieterin Daniela Leventpoulos ist eine gute Freundin.

Summer is here. We are open again on five days. Our mood is much better than in winter. We see dear guests again, old friends visit us in the brewery. Our beers, the pizzas, tarte flambée, Paul’s homemade sausages are enjoyed by our Greek, German, English, French, Italian, Belgian, Swiss, Austrian, Czech, Mexican, Bulgarian, Dutch guests. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some nations.
Paul and I often discuss which types of beer he should brew and which dishes are best to put on the menu. The best thing is to ask our guests … so:

• What should Paul brew?
• What would you like to eat with us?

Answer in the comments or by email

Second Season
We will soon be starting the season again with a full programme. The winter was long and only a few Lefkader and residents felt like going out. We were happy to see that more and more regulars came to Lazarata. People came for Paul’s beer, of course, but also specifically for Wiener schnitzel and juicy beef steaks. Paul’s sausages with sauerkraut are a big hit anyway. We would never have dreamed that there would be lovers of such traditional German dishes in Greece. I get a lot of praise for my pizzas and tarte flambée. The French speciality is only available here.
One time-consuming issue is the Greek authorities. Fortunately, we have a fantastic partner in our engineer Giorgos Thiakos. Without him, TheBrewery would not exist. He has paved most of the way for us. 1000 thanks for that, Giorgo!

Why do we taste so good?
What sounds rather arrogant is actually quite simple. The beer is good because Paul brews with excellent malt from Bavaria, the yeast comes from Weihenstephan, the hops from Tettnang and Hallertau. The water is Greek. We are lucky and get water from the nearby Korpi, which is even said to have healing powers. Despite its relatively high hardness, it makes good wheat beer, pale beer and red beer. IPA will be added this summer. Unfortunately, it’s too hard for Pilsner.
It’s not just the beer that’s home-made here. Uncle Jimmy’s bratwurst, our hams, smoked meats etc. we make ourselves. We store beef so that it is tender and juicy for you. We use fresh ingredients wherever possible. Of course, we make the pizza and tarte flambée dough ourselves. Our mozarella is real mozzarella. Dimitra produces our goat feta in Kavalos. The olive oil now comes from the hardworking nuns of Cape Lefkada.

Where does the tarte flambée come from?
In the French Alsace, tarte flambée is usually eaten in special, simple restaurants. There it is baked in a wood-fired oven until crispy. You are served one after the other until you wave goodbye. You can read more about it here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flammekueche.
Just try it. It goes perfectly with beer and wine.

Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones at TheBrewery
Paul is a passionate rock fan and regularly invites people to Classic Rock evenings. Then it gets loud in the brewery. With beer and wine, you can watch famous bands on stage on his big video screen with great sound. You can find the dates on Facebook and on request. Shine on!

Before and after the sailing trip to Lazarata for a drink
If you want to come as a group, we’ll be happy to organise large-capacity taxis to pick you up directly at the boat and bring you back again. It’s best to call or email booking@thebrewery.gr well in advance.

Celebrate in TheBrewery
In the afternoon we cook exclusively for you. For groups of 25 or more, you can have your own party in the evening. For this, too, it’s best to call in good time or send an e-mail to booking@thebrewery.gr.

Let the summer come
From the end of May we will be open again from Wednesday to Sunday from 6pm to midnight. Monday and Tuesday are usually brew days.
Please check here on our homepage for opening hours. Feel free to recommend us to others! See you soon at TheBrewery!

Especially nice was our Oktoberfest. The atmosphere was great and Paul’s festival beer was flowing. It was so good that he will now brew it all year round under the name “Paul’s Bavarian Red”. Surprisingly, we bought a big barbecue. Later, delicious pork knuckles and crispy chicken sizzled on it. There was even a surprise dirndl. Tina had sewn it out of leftover fabric. Cannstatter Wasen experienced friends from Stuttgart danced for hours on the beer benches and provided suitable music and atmosphere. Definitely an interesting experience for the international Oktoberfest laymen among our guests.

Matina, our great waitress, is into “dark” and wanted a Halloween party. Good idea, but for us Germans rather not a must. She dressed us up and decorated everything. The two brew kettles turned into waking ghosts. Huuuuuuhhhhh. Every guest got spicy pumpkin soup from our witch pot with great theatre. DJ Paul was in his element. At last, without any grumbling, music from relevant Carpenter films.

Our summer neighbour Michael celebrated his 70th birthday with 40 friends in October. He and his guests had a great time and it tasted good, too. There was wild dancing. The atmosphere was great… until the police came. We were very loud. A not so nice neighbour had called them. Stupid.

We like guests

The winter season on Lefkada is very different from the warm holiday season. It is quiet and tranquil. Often wet, mostly cool, warm in the sun and sometimes really cold. We Lefkader are almost among ourselves. That alone is quite a challenge for a gastronomic enterprise on a holiday island. Even a bigger one under pandemic conditions. Our uncertainty about whether enough guests will come grows. It’s not really fun when you have to check vaccination cards and unvaccinated regulars stop coming. We continue and are happy about every single guest who makes it to Lazarata.

Maybe you would like to celebrate a private party with us. Talk to us! Pizza and tarte flambée can also be taken away. Just give us a call!

We’ve been in action for over two months now. Brewing beer, tapping beer, baking pizza and tarte flambée, making and frying sausages with sauerkraut. Our guests are happy to have a brewery on Lefkas and love Paul’s Helles and Paul’s Weissbier. We almost can’t keep up with brewing. Paul brews on Mondays and Tuesdays with water from Korpi. This makes our beer even healthier! On these days the beer garden is closed. The beer then needs at least four, better six weeks or longer to mature. We serve the fresh young beer as Zwickelbier.
Matina does the service. We would be lost without her. She has the overview and is a genius at the till. When the shop is completely full, the three of us, Paul, Matina and Marion, are quite challenged, then unfortunately our guests have to wait a little longer.

O K T O B E R F E S T from 1. to 3. October
You can look forward to Paul’s festival beer. It’s brewed a little stronger, in keeping with the Munich Oktoberfest tradition. The food will be pork knuckles, half chickens, grilled sausages and tarte flambée. We start at 6pm on Friday, on Saturday it’s 2pm until night and on Sunday from 12pm to 5pm it’s drink up and eat up. Please make a reservation if you want to come with more people: booking@thebrewery.gr

Just come. We look forward to seeing you.
Paul makes bratwurst on Fridays according to Uncle Jimmy’s recipe. It has a lot of fans now and is a hit with sauerkraut. The guests wanted sauerkraut even in super-hot August. I had a bit of a hard time with that.
We would love it if many people came with their families on Sundays for lunch, like in the past in our beloved Kafenion in Kavalos. On Sundays we have Wiener schnitzel with Swabian potato salad, sometimes roast pork or goulash, and of course tarte flambée and pizza.

Take away
You are welcome to order pizzas and tarte flambée by phone or in the restaurant and take them away.

Nice comments

We have just tasted the best weizen beer we ever had in our lives! And we had quite a few. The beer is fresh, citrusy but not sour. I have to admit it is a sad feeling to know that it will not get any better! Pizzas were also great! Thank you! 🙂

Incredible beer perfect “tart” everything was wonderful. It is worth your visit if you are on the island of Lefkada !!! (Original) Απίστευτη μπύρα άψογη “τάρτα” όλα ήταν υπέροχα . Αξίζει την επίσκεψη σας αν βρίσκεστε στο νησί της Λευκάδας!!!

Best experience! Incredible tasty wheat beer. Absolute must visit spot.

Opening Hours
September:
Wednesday to Saturday: 6 pm till midnight
Sunday: Noon to 5 pm
October (Winter):
Friday, Saturday: 6 pm till midnight
Sunday: Noon to 5 pm

At some point it will come true
Lockdown, illnesses, a lot of repairs and so much more have cost us a lot of time. Restaurants has now been open outdoor in Greece since some weeks. Theoretically, we could open our beer garden – the brewing license is in sight. We are confident. Opening at the end of June! Keep your fingers crossed.

Helpers welcome
Greta from Cologne and Alejandro from Madrid were sent by heaven. They have been working as volunteers in various projects in Lefkada. www.tamonopatia.org. They are now completed. The lockdown also kept them in Lefkada longer than they wanted. Soon they will move on to Madrid. Until then they support us in exchange for board and lodging and bring a lot of young energy to TheBrewery. Katrin from Stuttgart cleaned the windows and brought fresh white asparagus from Germany. Our friends Gogol and Harry from Wood and Steel painted, siliconized, worked with wood and brought a bunch of old bar stools. www.facebook.com/lefkada.steel.and.wood

Beautiful living
Our second source of income, the holiday home rental, started cautiously because of the unclear travel situation. Now vacations are possible again without quarantine. We look forward to nice guests. Preveza / Aktio airport is 25 km away on the mainland and is served by many European cities. The island of Lefkas can be reached from the mainland via a bridge. Arrival by boat from Trieste, Venice, Ancona, Bari and Brindisi to Igoumenitsa. All information about the holiday home is available here: www.villa-kavalos.de

Dry Spell
The virus has really thwarted our plans. We still don’t have a permit for the brewery. As in other countries, the authorities are working under difficult circumstances. Our application was stamped by the responsible office in May and is therefore officially submitted. According to our engineer, there is a new law that says that an application that is not processed after five weeks is considered approved. We would much prefer a proper permit. At the moment we cannot brew anyway because the system is not yet ready for operation. Paul does all the prep work on his own to save money. But we’ll definitely be ready for the tourist season.

The test beer tastes good
Paul’s favourite beer is Weissbier or Hefeweizen, which are extremely popular in Germany, especially in summer. It’s refreshing, fruity and slightly more carbonated than other beers. A slight taste of banana is typical of the Weihenstephan yeast he uses. The Weihenstephan monastery brewery is located in Bavaria and was founded almost 1000 years ago. This makes it the oldest brewery in the world and, among other things, it houses a comprehensive yeast bank. https://www.weihenstephaner.de/en/our-brewery/history/
Paul brews regularly in his test facility. Brewing uses spring water from Korpi. Korpi is a small town near Vonitsa. Unfortunately, Nestlé took over the use of the source a few years ago. The good thing: You can still get water for free at the old spa center. Traditionally, smaller tankers supply the Lefkader with this good water. In contrast to the millions and millions of corpi plastic bottles from Nestlé, this is environmentally friendly.

She bakes
So far, Paul has taken the lead when it comes to baking. I prefer to cook. For The Brewery, however, I planned pizza, pinsa, tarte flambée, etc. from the start. Savoury pastries go very well with beer. Most like it and working with dough is pleasant in the heat. I am practicing with my new pizza oven. It’s great how quickly the base gets crispy. The tarte flambée is already perfect. The base is very thin. Instead of crème fraîche, I use cream cheese and cream. Tastes delicious. Of course there won’t just be pizza. I have been very taken with the Greek meze tradition, but also tapas and “small plates”. I can be creative and the guest gets surprising things every time they visit. We won’t be forgetting good steaks. Paul loves fried and grilled beef and prefers to eat it “en bleu”. On the island, however, beef and lamb are always well cooked. In Greece there is, as far as I know, no tradition of pan-fried beef. Well hung steaks are not available from the butchers in Lefkada. Amazingly, there is wonderful fillet of beef that is very tender even when freshly butchered. We’ll stay tuned.

When will there be beer?
We would like to know that too. We may be able to start at the end of winter, it may take even longer. That depends entirely on Corona and the authorities. The project is tightly budgeted and nobody could have expected such initial difficulties. We want to go on. But we can’t let costs get out of control. Good things take time. Keep your fingers crossed and everything will be fine.
Good health! Υγεία!

Pleasant pastimes
The sun was shining frequently now in January. The air is sometimes pleasant 20 degrees. The sea is fresh at maybe 16 degrees. Paul still likes to swim. We can still divide our time freely. That will change soon.

Clamping
In our almost one-year waiting period there were some disappointments. Two locations that we found very good did not work. The owner simply rented a very attractive beer garden on the outskirts of Lefkas town, which was actually promised to us, without information to others. A former tavern in Karya, for which we and our dear neighbors, as language assistants, had invested a lot of time, turned out to be impossible to rent because the heirs could not agree.

So we had a lot of time for other things. Paul set up the caravan site in June and July so that when we rent our house in summer we have a new wonderful place to live. All in nature. Surrounded by dear neighbors who made it possible for us. A very pleasant waiting time when you have the beach and the sea on your doorstep.

Now it’s getting serious
Today on January 20th we paid the deposit for “The Brewery” and signed a preliminary contract. Paul could hardly wait to push the rather heavy brewing kettles to his new home on his new “dog”. Lefteri, on whose property the container with our brewery is located, is always extremely helpful and has transported the kettles with crane and truck 200 m to the location.

Now we have it. The lease for the former tavern has not yet been signed, but it is as good as. The two owners Dimitris and Spyros live in Montreal, are very cooperative, but it takes time. They look forward to tenants who reliably pay the rent. Hopefully we can do that.

I had already thought of “The Brewery” in Stuttgart. We think it fits the location. English is spoken here anyway. The Greek word for this is ζυθοποιεία, meaning “zythopiía” with TH and double-i, inexpressible and unknown to many Greeks. How to make beer is much less known here than in for example Germany. After all, there are now almost 50 small breweries in Hellas. The big ones like Mythos, Fix and Alpha are all part of international groups. As far as we know, we will be the first local brewery in all of Greece – and, unlike in Germany, several licenses are needed to operate it

Paul can finally free his brewery from the container. He will take her to her destination little by little now. It will be used in the restaurant behind a glass wall (separation is a requirement). A double floor with drain has to be built, pipes have to be adapted, ventilation has to be planned. Paul is a model maker and hobby brewer. He is extremely skilled in his craft and technically so curious that he is at home in a large number of trades. He calculated that if we wanted to make the slightest profit, the location had to be cheap (it is) and most of the work had to be done by ourselves. 24% VAT and 15% alcohol tax are one word. The calculated beer price is high.