KEO Beer
KEO Limited

Bottled in 630ml of dark brown glass and purchased from my local big Tesco supermarket store
Pours a lemon jello coloured body with spotty white head
Aroma is pale malts
Flavour is lager shady, but made with half decent lager

 

 

Larnaka 10/7 2017. 33 cl bottle at Italian Restaurant Al Dente. Very yellow label making proud boasts about the "Finest quality" and that this beer is "proudly brewed on the Island of Cyprus".

Pours clear pale yellow with big bubbly white head. Head more or less disappears after half a minute. Very moderate lacing.

Aroma is quite sweet. Honey, stale fridge with sourish notes.

Soft carbonation and watery palate.

Flavor is medium sweet followed by sourish bitterness. Aftertaste is bitter and lightly acidic.

They might be proud while they brew it - but it does not make it an extraordinary beer.

11.2oz bottle Prod. Date 17/12/24 (9 months ago) poured into a shaker pint glass at fridge temp 4.5% ABV. The beer pours bright light golden yellow with nearly white head. The head recedes to a thin ring and partial covering. Minimal lacing. The aroma is mild with sweet cereal grain. The taste is more semisweet cereal with a hint of grassy hops. Minimal bitterness. The feel is thin bodied with average carbonation and a mostly dry finish. There are hints of incomplete fermentation with a bit of diacetyl, but it's subtle. Overall, average AAL.

 

This one was from Cellarbrations Deer Park in Melbourne in August 2025. There was a selection of random imports, and I couldn't help myself! I drank it a few weeks later.

L: In the glass, the beer is a clear, light gold in colour, with a fluffy, long-lasting, bright-white head. Lots of bubbles stream up the glass.

S: The nose is dusty malt and a touch of lemon tea.

T: Hmmm... let's see, metallic, coppery, watery, some tea and lemon notes as per the nose, and a thin, dry, dusty finish. Overall, not a lot to write home about at all.

M: The body is on the thin side. Carbonation is low to medium, as is the carbonic prockle.

O: The tasting notes sum this one up. Disappointing is the first and best word that springs to mind.

Cheers!
#742

How do you rate an adjunct from a country that you’ve never had a brew from. Apparently so are the other raters having trouble. This brew is better than its ratings. If you have the chance to agree with me, do.

KEO Looks slightly below the average for the style; unless you consider that all Mediterranean brewers have trouble making their yeasts as active as those from the north. Suddenly, KEO is better... which is how I see it. By analogy, same goes for Smells and Tastes are mostly of malt because hops don't grow well in dry warm climates so they can't afford to use as many of them as used in North America's Northwest. KEO has average carbonation and is light-mouthed.

But I drank KEO at a Greek restaurant for lunch. So it actually was a pretty good pairing. Not strong and not too flavourful a beer, it let a flavourful lunch run its course. Success deserves my high Overall Hugs.

Also deserving is KEO, an interesting beverage and food company with seven divisions and some 100+ brands. So they brew mostly to keep their distributors happy on Crete and the surrounding Mediterranean lands. My first brew from Cyprus.

 

 

 

 

 

July 2007: 330 ml can, brought home from Cyprus by my wife. ABV is 4.5%. Very pale golden colour, fluffy head. Moderate citrussy and grassy aroma. Thin mouthfeel, moderate flavour with a touch of citrussy hops. Not great, but not offensive either.

Appearance: Poured with a finger of head that didn't lace or stick around. The body is a fairly run of the mill lighter lager with decent carbonation.

Smell: Smells like buckwheat pancakes, but that doesn't seem quite right. I mean it's doughy as has a bit of a earthy strawiness to it, but it's not quite as potent or vegetal as buckwheat. It's fine, but nothing special.

Taste: Barley malt with a bit of straw that turns to a little bit of corn and then shifts to earthy and floral hops, but it's just a small splash and doesn't overwhelm it or carries onto the aftertaste. That said, this stuff is very mild, and a clear summer guzzler.

Mouthfeel: Crisp and while it is falling into Light Beer territory, it does just enough to be a refreshing lager. Aftertaste is very brief and only the slightest touch of Earth and Floral notes. Transitioning is good, but it's not a long and winding road here, as there's just not enough character here to really express anything too strongly.

Drinkability: Glug glug, guzzle, guzzle as it's very easy to drink, and very refreshing. The issue is that it doesn't have much in the way of character, I mean it's done well enough, and the hoping is a bit different but there's just not a lot here to comment on and lighter bodied lager.

Final Thoughts: So this is the generic imported lager from Cyprus, and while it fares better than most lager imports, this isn't knocking anyone's socks off. I looked at the brewer, and that they produce a light version of this, leaves me asking why? This is done well, light summer drinker, and that's it. Go any lighter, you are likely going territory that is far to watery. There's not much to say here to be honest, it's decent but incredibly spartan summer lager.

330 ml bottle served cold into a pint glass. Review from notes.

Appearance - Clear golden color with an unfiltered look. A finger or so of head is poured with moderate staying power.

Smell - Not much a little grain, slight amount of earthy hops, nothing odd for sure.

Taste - Quite watery, with light graininess throughout. A bit too sweet even for the style.

Mouthfeel - Medium-light bodied and very fizzy.

Overall - Solid enough AAL, not something I'd enjoy on the regular, but being by first beer that I've tried from Cyprus, figured it was worth a shot.

March 23 2024

330 mL bottle from the LCBO; best before 09/06/24 and served slightly chilled.

Pours a clear pale golden colour, topped with half an inch of loose, frothy white head that sizzles away within sixty seconds or so. Some spotty lace is deposited, with a bubbly collar and a few sudsy patches remaining on the surface - looks normal enough. Bready, doughy aroma, with hints of corn syrup, grains & honeycomb; nothing to get excited about, but it does smell better than most macros.

It tastes fine - I'm getting yellow tortilla, bready malts, grainy sweetness and just a hint of doughy sweetness. No real hop presence; finishes a little sweet/corny. Light in body, with moderate carbonation that adds some semblance of crispness to this brew's smooth mouthfeel. Sessionable, refreshing and totally inoffensive.

Final Grade: 3.26, a C+. KEO Beer has been on my wants list for a while - not because I thought this beer would blow my mind, but rather because I figured this was the only Cypriot beer I'd ever be able to find in North America. Apparently I figured correctly, as I randomly stumbled upon this single while shopping out of town. I was excited at the time, but the reality is that KEO is a pretty average macro lager - though I imagine it'd really hit the spot on a hot Mediterranean afternoon. Quite boring, but still decent for the style, and worth picking up for the 'new country' tick. If someone handed me another bottle, I'd drink it happily.