 In October Mikkel and I went to Greece. The trip had two purposes. Firstly, we were there to meet the Greek microbrewery Craft to explore ways to brew a Mikkeller / Craft beer. Secondly, we were there to discuss the possibilities of exporting Mikkeller beer to Greece.
Both things are falling into place. In early 2010 we will return to Greece to brew a blond with Craft, and the first Mikkeller beers to be sold in Greece have been sent to Greece a long time ago. The beers are already in a warehouse in Athens. Actually the beers have been ready for sale in months, but so far they are just sitting in the warehouse. And there are indications that they will remain there for quite some time. Naturally this is a giant frustration for Pol and Alex - the two Greek beer geeks who imported the Mikkeller beers - and whose mission and stated goal it is to get some good beer to Greece. The explanation for the beers being stranded in a warehouse has to do with the world-famous Greek bureaucracy. First of course you pay duty and tax. But simple procedures that would only take hours in Denmark, can easily take several months in Greece. But that is not all: the state laboratories actually analyze the content in the bottles. They want to make sure that it is quite safe to offer the beer to the Greek consumer. It will probably surprise many that the Greek rules are so strict in that specific area. We are after all talking about a country where a lunch at the local taverna is inextricably linked with a couple of days of diarrhea. The world's oldest democracy is as bureaucratic as hell, and the Greeks have had to learn to live with it, not without frustrations, but they live with it - and survive it. Let me finally quote Alex expressing the frustrations he and Pol are experiencing these days: It takes eternal patience and a pair of huge and hairy balls to do any business that involves the Greek Public. I got the balls but I'm not so sure about the patience part... | 
