I finally got to visit the land of my birth after half a century.
Larnaca is eight miles from my Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area birthplace. It has a pub, not to be missed by serious beer drinkers, called the Barrel House. Located centrally down a leafy street, between the American Academy and Metro Market, it looks and feels like a genuine British pub. It was good to see the effort they are making in here and definitely worth your support and encouragement.
Panayiotis, behind the bar, certainly spoils you for choice of beers from all around the world and he was friendly, enthusiastic about beer and very helpful. But tonight he was the support act. Star of the show was Loizos, the man behind Cyprus’s Prime Microbrewery.
This family owned brewery is based near Aiya Napa and is the first microbrewery in Cyprus. Loizos said he had enjoyed beers across Europe, including real ale in Britain. Unfortunately the hot weather of Cyprus makes the process of producing cask ale very difficult. But he said he is working on it and will get there.
“We only use natural ingredients because we believe that beer must be a 100% natural product. Chemical and additives are not and will never be part of our beer or brewing mentality”.
Prime source their hops from Britain and New Zealand. Which is a nice connection for me, being a Cyprus-born Brit and my sister Carole, living in New Zealand.
The main event for Sylvia, my girlfriend, and I was sampling Prime’s beer. First up for me was their Golden Ale. At 4.5% it was the right strength for this kind of beer. It tasted nice and managed to avoid any tanginess. IPA followed, very good too and I was beginning to think I was back in a pub in breezy Blighty, rather than sunny Cyprus. Sylvia had a wheat beer, which I moved on to next. Other punters in the Barrel House hadn’t seen a pint like this before and questioned my sanity in drinking such a cloudy drink. But this was the real deal and those of us who enjoy wheat beers know it is cloudy and you don’t drink with your eyes.
Unfortunately for Sylvia and me, this enjoyable tasting event in the Barrel House had to come to an end. It was refreshing, in more ways than one, to see Larnaca has a great pub waiting to be discovered. And now the island has its own great microbrewery with a nice selection of beers waiting to be discovered too.