Every new beer is a new love story,” said Marie Claire Gagnier, co-founder of Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours. “Some love stories are short-lived. Some beers surprise you. Some beers are lifelong romances.”

Gagnier is from Montreal, but moved to the Greek island of Crete six years ago to live her life by the sea. There, on Greece’s largest island, she met Stelios Pagialakis, who was born and raised in Athens, but had family roots in Chania so he moved to Crete in 2006. The duo met through a mutual friend.

With Gagnier’s background in entertainment and Pagialakis’s background in the travel sector of Greece, they saw an opportunity to combine skillsets and start a travel agency that showcases Greece and Crete’s growing beer scene alongside local cuisine. In the winter of 2020, Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours was formed, and in the spring of 2021, the first craft beer tours in all of Greece began.

“We are so happy to be pioneers in the local craft beer scene,” said Pagialakis.

Promoting local culture

“We have cool conversations around beer,” said Gagnier. Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours specializes in non-touristy walking tours in Chania and Rethymno, offering five scheduled tours, and custom and private tours.

The goal is to demystify beer, exploring different styles and how they pair with local cuisine. When people sign up for a tour, they are asked what their favourite beer style is, allowing Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours to select the beer menu to their clients’ liking.

“We are drinking beer, of course, but it’s not just that,” said Pagialakis.

“Greece is now a craft beer destination.”

Stelios Pagialakis, Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours

“Food shifts the flavour of beer,” said Gagnier, so while beer is the focus, the tours are much more than that. “Craft beer and food harmonize into new flavours.”

Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours offers several tour options, all of which are limited to small groups, typically between six and eight people. For custom and private tours – bachelor and bachelorette parties and honeymoons are popular – Gagnier and Pagialakis draw on their relationships within the local community to build exactly what clients want to experience. A typical tour will stop at four locations and involve tasting seven to eight beers covering a broad range of styles. Drinking the familiar brings comfort, but Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours also likes to push the edge of clients’ expectations with fun and one-off brews.

The craft beer scene in Greece

The tours do not visit actual breweries, which tend to be located in the outskirts of town. Instead, the tours take place in the stunning Old Venetian Harbour at restaurants and craft beer pubs serving local beers. That way, they support not only local beers, but the businesses that support local breweries.

For clients wanting to visit breweries, Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours offers a map of the over 115 breweries in Greece – a map they developed and update regularly to reflect the brewery scene, which, due to its relative immaturity, is ever-changing.

“We have people on our tours who say they don’t like beer. They are joining their beer-loving friends on a tour, so we start them with an extra approachable beer. But by the end of the tour, we’ve been able to show them that beer isn’t what they think. We love to help them enter a new realm of beer appreciation.”

Marie Clarie Gagnier, Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours

Historically, Greek beer has been influenced by German beer culture. The first king of modern Greece, King Otto, who served from 1832 to 1862, came from Bavaria. When he moved to Greece, he brought his brewmaster, Herr Fuchs, with him. This set the course for Greek beer for decades to come. In fact, Greece adopted brewing laws nearly identical to Bavaria’s famed Reinheitsgebot purity law of 1516. The Greek version remained in place until 1987 (about the same time the German Reinheitsgebot was struck down as restricting trade in the European Union).

“Greeks love lager,” said Pagialakis.

More recently, local small breweries are influenced by the North American craft beer scene, although there are also prominent brewers in Greece collaborating in countries such as Sweden, Bulgaria and the U.S., among others, bringing their own unique twist to beer in the Hellenic Republic.

“There has been a generational shift,” said Pagialakis. “Younger beer drinkers want IPAs, tripels and sour beers.” On Crete, there are now 16 breweries, though as recently as a few years ago, there were only three.

New Greek breweries are more than happy to oblige those younger tastebuds. Homebrewing is growing in popularity, and residents and tourists alike are responding positively to how new age Greek beers present well with food.

Many breweries are including Greek culinary traditions in their beers. Brewers are making beers with Mastika, a tree resin from the Greek island of Chios. Other brewers are making beer with local sea salt, while some are incorporating local fruits – cacti, figs and kumquats – in their beers. On the island of Santorini, famous for cherry tomatoes, brewers are making gose beers with Santorini tomatoes and rosemary. And, of course, Greece is famous for wine, so brewers are experimenting with beers aged in barrels that previously held Greek wine.

Instantly popular

Despite launching in 2021, during quarantines and steep health measures, Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours was instantly popular. Gagnier and Pagialakis won Best Small Group Tour Operator 2024 – Crete from the 2024 Travel & Tourism Awards from LUXlife Magazine, Innovative Tour Company of the Year – Crete from 2023 Travel and Hospitality Awards and Best Learning Experience – Crete from the 2022 Travel and Hospitality Awards.

However, industry awards are not nearly as meaningful as delighted customers.

“We had a wonderful guest from Hamburg,” said Pagialakis. “He’s been coming to Crete every year for 12 years. In 2021, he discovered Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours and was blown away by all the beers he was discovering on our tour. He came back next year, having researched the German influence on Greek beer and he came back again the year after, having researched all the local breweries, ready with a list of questions.”

Then there was the visitor originally from Venezuela, but now living in America. He was in Greece for 40 days, and in that stay, he did four tours: once on his own as part of a group tour, and again when a friend came to the island. He then did a group tour in Rethymno and, immediately before heading home, he did a fourth in Chania.

“He’s a friend now,” said Pagialakis. Another great reward for Gagnier and Pagialakis is introducing new customers to beer.

“We have people on our tours who say they don’t like beer,” said Gagnier. “They are joining their beer-loving friends on a tour, so we start them with an extra approachable beer. But by the end of the tour, we’ve been able to show them that beer isn’t what they think. We love to help them enter a new realm of beer appreciation.”

Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours has added a food tour in the White Mountain Range of Crete and grown organically since they started.

“We stop in small villages. We visit local people. And we taste local food,” said Pagialakis. “We are trying to promote local Greek and Crete culture, and we take pride in taking people behind the scenes, to places other tourists don’t get to see. We don’t want to grow massive; we want to respect the area and our community.”

For those visiting Crete, Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours is welcoming epicurious travellers from around the world. “Greece is now a craft beer destination,” said Pagialakis.

Got questions? Contact Bonnie and Clyde Urban Tours Travel Agency at +30 699-804-8028 or visit bonnieandclydeurbantours.com.