To expand its activity and through exports, the Patriotic Brewery, the Independent Beer Production Company “ORA”, based in Patras, is seeking.
As the company’s chief executive, Chrysanthi Antonakopoulou, says in an interview with newsit.gr, the company is launching the upgrading of the bottling system, while aspiring to become a society of Greek handmade beer culture not only in Greece but also abroad.
To this end, the head of the Patraian Brewery participated, early in the summer, on the television show “Dragons’ Den”, managing to secure funding of 75,000 euros.
“We are planning to upgrade the bottling system so that we can serve more customers daily. My personal goal is to promote the culture of Greek craft, that is, handmade beer- this is what we small producers emphasize.
Craft means handmade, not a massive and anonymous product that just enters a bottle and distributed. That is why our label states “beer with character” explains Antonakopoulou.
Founded in 2014
The Patriotic Brewery was founded in 2014 by Kostas Antonakopoulos, with the reins of the company passing on to his daughter Chrysanthi, after his sudden death in May 2024. “The Patriotic Brewery was a vision and dream of my father, who, after many years, was in his father. The “Ora” and the labels Weiss, IPA, Stout and Patrinella (Smoky Lager) are a transformation of “Dionis” beer Chrysanthi Antonakopoulou.
The company has an annual turnover of 200,000 euros and production of 24,000 liters per month. Ora is already distributed in Patras, Athens, Thessaloniki, and is also exported to Germany, where – as she says – “Scriptures are particularly positive”.
However, the competition is intense for the small Patriotic business, as “90% of the brewery controls two players”, as the head of the Patriotic Brewery notes.
“We are fighting a daily struggle to survive,” he says, noting that the multiannual downturn (which started in 2008 and ended in 2016, with the exception of the anemic development of 2014), the 2015 capital controls and the Covid -9 pandemic were just a few of its serious obstacles.