North East Beer Review

Whilst preparing to come to Cyprus on holiday, I was scrolling through google looking at the craft beer scene in Paphos in-particular. Then, I found the link to a Beer festival which was taking place whilst I was visiting. I thought this was the perfect opportunity to try new and unique beers I wouldn’t usually be able to try back in the UK. In this review, I will be exploring the festival, beer choices, any improvements, and my overall reaction to what is my first ever beer festival.

Where was the festival located?

The Paphos Beer Festival 2025 was located at the Paphos Castle just across from Paphos Harbour. The location was amazing as it was easy access by public transport. I personally made my way from Kissonerga and it required two buses however this was quite easy to navigate. If you were staying closer to the Harbour, this would be a lot easier again.

As I approached the festival it was notably well lit and you could see the castle all illuminated with colours of orange and purple. The surrounding marina was quite the view with the usual parked up boats.

One thing to note if you would go in the future there is a lack of toilet or toilets at the festival itself. I felt this was really needed without having to do a long walk to a public toilet every time I needed to go. If the beer festival reads this, this is my only criticism.

What was at the beer festival?

The beer festival had a plethora of different stalls, activities and events. If you weren’t a fan of beer, this festival would still be for you. This was a free to enter event and it was packed. This festival ran from the 7th to the 10th August. I personally went with my girlfriend on day one. Absolutely buzzing to be there, I noticed at the entrance there was a Smorgasbord of different market type stalls. These stalls sold a variety of products ranging from jewellery, clothes and hand made crafts. I personally purchased a Paphos Beer Festival T-shirt from a stall that offered a chance to win money or a free T-shirt… I consequently got a keyring as I spent €15. You can’t have everything I suppose.

As I walked deeper into the festival you could see food vendors and the beginning of the beer stalls. The vendors of note were the likes of KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut. Also, a variety of Cypriot street vendors which are available on the beer festival website. My girlfriend sampled the Mini Melts Ice Cream stall.

Moving into the festival, I noticed the main stage which had acts such as a DJ, Fire shows and A band called The Holidays belting classics from Black Sabbath (Rip Ozzy Osbourne), FallOutBoy and Pink. According to the website, there were apparently other bands performing across the numerous evenings of the festival. Another aspect of the festival was darts and beer pong to win prizes from beers such as Kronenbourg, KEO and Sandy. Also, the addition of Cider beers such as (Somersby) and cocktail bars.

Obviously, there was beer.

Now the Important part… The beer

To start this part of the review I will tell you the set up. There were individual stalls for each brewery which their sold signature beers. The breweries were a mixture of larger ones such as Carlsberg and smaller ones such as Golem Brewhouse. Each stall also sold merch and cans to take home.

The breweries that took part in the Paphos Beer Festival were:

• Keo
• Erdinger
• Estrella Damm
• Radical Way Brewing
• Golem Brewhouse
• Asahi
• Peroni
• Pilsner Urquell
• Octopus Beer
• Carlsberg
• πίβo Microbrewery
• Fix Hellas
• Leon
• Guinness
• Kronenbourg
• Sandy
• Voreia Beer
• Humor Craft Beer
• Staropramen
• Coors
• Hofbrau
• Crossline Brewing
• The old fishing shack ale
• Stella
• And more (full list on website)

So there was a large variety of beers to try with a mixture of Wheat beer, lager, Ipas and Stouts. I tried about 4 beers and a can. As part of getting a beer you had a buy a plastic collectable cup which is rinsed and refilled.

Now then, what i tried.

All the beers I tried were from different Cypriot Breweries

Sandy Weisse

The first beer I tried was a wheat beer by Sandy. This was a wheatbeer. This had strong notes of banana and herbiness with a subtle sweet taste. This was nice and refreshing and a good beer to start off my session. The beer was €4 and has an ABV of 5%. My verdict is 3.75 out of 5.

Crossline Brewing Heat

This is from a brewery based in Nicosia. They are known for making small batch, hop forward beers. These are locally supplied and only available in Cities and Towns across Cyprus. The beer I selected was Heat which is a New England IPA. This was brewed using Sabro, Citra and Talus hops. This was extremely juicy and smooth almost milkshake like. This was possibly my favourite one as it was extremely refreshing. I paid €7 and it has an ABV of 6%. My verdict is 4.5 out of 5.

Golem Brewhouse NEIPA

The slogan of Golem Brewhouse ‘Czech point for beer‘, really perked my curiosity as it appeared to tailor itself to Czech brewing. This certainly did its best to compare itself to Czech brewing which proved that they make really nice beer. I tried a NEIPA (surprise, surprise) and this was unreal. This microbrewery is based in Nicosia and they strive for quality. Their NEIPA is brewed using Simcoe, Mosaic and Sabro. This had a tropical citrusy taste and the depth of flavour was immense. This was definitely brilliant in terms exemplifying the true nature of a hazy IPA which you could tell the through the unfiltered appearance. My verdict is 4.5 out of 5.

πίβo microbrewery Tefkros

This brewery was established in 2015 in Nicosia. This was my final pint of the beer festival and I thought I would try something different in Tefkros which is Single Hop Simcoe New World Pils. This was a collaboration between Anastasiou, Paragon and Pivo breweries. This was a very smooth and refreshing pilsner which was quite pale with pine and citrusy notes. This was 5.4% and I paid €6. My verdict was 4.25 out of 5

Radical Way Brewing Infernal Ascension

This beer was bought as a can to take back to my hotel room. Radical Way’s motto is cut the crap, go radical. This was certainly the case with this brewery. The staff were notably friendly and I would rate them full marks for customer service. This is a crazy beer being an 8% Double Dry Hopped Double New England IPA.

Infernal Ascension is lush and full-bodied. It opens with bold flavors of mango, candied citrus, and pulpy pineapple, followed by a soft wave of coconut and melons. This was a snippet from my full review which is linked here. I paid €7 for the can and if you click the link you will find my verdict.

All of the beer I tried was extremely nice and I am unbelievably grateful to be able to sample local breweries in Cyprus and I feel it has added extra value to my quest to try as many beers as I can. I wish I could have tried more however you would end up carrying me back to the hotel and possibly needing to get a loan out but either way this was amazing. I am striving to get to another beer festival preferably abroad.

My full verdict

This was an experience that I am grateful for as I have a serious interest in beer. My holiday to Paphos was booked months before I realised there was a beer festival in Paphos. I managed to try different beers that ordinarily I would never be able to. Also, I liked the fact that there were options for those that don’t like beer such as cocktails and cider. I also observed the fact a lot of families have came to this event. Although it was a beer festival it was also quite family friendly. If I am back in Paphos I would definitely return to the festival. It had everything, market stalls, food vendors, bars and music and stage events. Brilliant night out.

My verdict is 5 out of 5.

Thanks for reading and if you would like to check out my full review on Radical Way Brewing Infernal Ascension, the link is provided under the mini review.