One beer,
a short story

A “why not?” one afternoon

My name is Georgios Ntanos. I am a mechanical engineer from Patras, and a few years ago I picked up a hobby: brewing.

I came to homebrewing by chance in early 2016, at a microbrewery, where I tasted fresh, unfiltered, unpasteurised beer. That was the moment I understood the difference in taste and in quality, and realised that beer is not only what we knew and what we had grown used to.

A little research showed me that it is entirely possible to make “your own” beer. Then, one afternoon, I said something very simple — “why not?” — and decided to start brewing as an amateur. The idea of tasting something I had made myself was thrilling.

There are no secrets

I started from the very basics: that beer is made of water, malt, hops and yeast. In the beginning all I did was read, a great deal, in order to understand the whole brewing process, the parameters that affect it and the mistakes to avoid.

The usual starting point is a “beer kit” — a ready-made concentrated wort that you only need to dilute before pitching the yeast. That is how you build the knowledge and the confidence to handle fermentation.

After that first brew I understood that there are no secrets — only a good knowledge of the ingredients and a faithful application of the process. By following the instructions you come to know the varieties of malt, hops and yeast that, combined, will give you the result you designed.

After three or four months I began to improvise and to build my own home brewery, in order to brew all grain: you take malt, hops, yeast and whichever additions you choose, and you create the beer exactly as you want it. That means working out the recipe yourself, with the ratios and quantities of every ingredient. The result is almost always good — and it is better than the one before.

The craft of beer meets the craft of food

From the very first moment I took up brewing, my thought and my goal was to bring together two different — and identical — crafts: the craft of beer and the craft of food. To create beers with a distinctive taste and aroma, beers that complete the food or bring it out.

My philosophy was clear from the start: beer is not merely a refreshing drink, but a premium gastronomic product, designed to pair harmoniously with high-end restaurant menus.

Through what I make, I want people to understand that beer is not a soft drink and not only a summer drink; it is not simply there to quench your thirst. On the contrary, it has the capacity to give you flavours and aromas in abundance. The hardest part is letting people know that different beers exist at all, because unfortunately in Greece there is no proper beer culture, and so beer is approached the wrong way.

AMMOUSA is not a product that will sit in a restaurant, a wine shop or a beer bar simply because it has to be there. AMMOUSA is there to carry a taste experience.

The strength of the outsider

Moving from homebrewing to professional brewing is, in the end, simply a decision. A decision that demands a great deal of thought and the right moves. You have to offer people something different; you have to give them new experiences and new flavours.

I started out as an absolute outsider. Being a mechanical engineer with no connection whatsoever to the hospitality world meant I had no ready customer base and no open doors. What I did have was blind faith in my product, and enormous passion.

At that first, difficult stage, trade fairs and above all international awards worked as my passport. When you have no connections, objective recognition from judges abroad speaks for itself: it puts you on the map and proves that you are not simply making one more beer, but a product built to a high standard.

The risk that became a strategy

The real turning point — the one that defined AMMOUSA’s DNA — was a decision taken on the spot. With my very first batch, precisely because nobody in the market knew me, time was running against me and the beer was in danger of expiring in storage.

Rather than accept the loss, I took the risk of sending all of it out as samples. Literally everywhere: to the country’s leading restaurants, delicatessens and hotels.

That move was the ultimate crash test. And it worked. When the first customers who trust you, tasting your product blind, are HILTON and Lefteris Lazarou at Varoulko, everything changes.

It did not simply bring me my first sales. It gave me the definitive seal of approval from the very top of Greek gastronomy, and it proved my original philosophy in practice: that AMMOUSA belongs on high-end menus. From that moment on, with that acceptance as my strongest argument, every next door opened far more easily.

Two beers, two tables

Where you will meet AMMOUSA

Alongside the e-shop that serves the whole of Greece, AMMOUSA has built a highly focused sales network: supermarkets and delicatessens, hotels and fine-dining restaurants, and distributors across the country.

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