Villa des Arts Cafe Bar, Art Gallery and Bookshop, 37 Nearchou, Chania
The Villa des Arts is a lovely old building on the outskirts of Chania which houses an art gallery and doubles as a cafe and bar. The bar area in the gardens has a very bohemian feel to it with graffiti art and reclaimed wooden shutters on the walls and if you want a nice place to relax away from the hustle and bustle of Chania's streets then it is certainly a cafe-bar to seek out.
We arrived for the craft beer festival wondering if it would be in a similar format to beer festivals we have been to in the UK where you get to chat to the brewers and get an insight into the brewing process and tasting hints. Unfortunately, even though there were a wide range of craft beers on sale, there was no presence from the brewing industry to talk to. We tasted a few of the different beers between us and even tried the 'Georgia State of Mind' cocktail, a heady mix of Bourbon, Vermouth, Campari, Lime, Peach Shrub and Voreia IPA beer - a strange tasting mix that wasn't for me but my wife loved it!
Of the beers we tried, four stood out for me as outstanding;
Hoppy Summer - A 5% ale from the Cretan Solo brewery that as its name suggests had a full hop flavour with a strong aftertaste.
13th Apostle - Also from the Solo brewery and a whopping 11%. I thought this would be too sweet like other high alcohol beers but I was pleasantly surprised with the mild flavour and pleasingly bitter aftertaste on the tongue.
Septem Lava Imperial Red Indian Ale - A very smooth 9% IPA from Avlon, Euboea that had that iconic taste of craft ale you expect.
Noctua Black IPA (Night Vision) - My favourite of the evening was this almost stout like 7% black IPA. It had an almost Guinness like taste that I could have drunk all night.
Two of the beers I just couldn't enjoy although others in the group really liked them were;
Solo Imperial IPA - A strong 10% brew that I just found too bitter to enjoy, but it does have a 100 IBU (International Bitterness Unit) rating so this is to be expected.
Delphi Mediterranean Pilsner - From Chalkidiki, this 5% lager had a taste that I just found disagreeable for my palate although others relished this citrus, almost flowery taste.
It was great to be able to try these and other different beers in a lovely setting but the prices did leave a little of a bitter taste in the mouth. Each bottle was 330ml and cost €6. With this being advertised as a beer festival we had expected the beers to be championed by the brewers and showcased by subsidising the cost to allow as many people to try a wide range of the different breweries. Instead it appears to have been less of a festival and more of a case of the establishment buying in a range of craft beers and making an evening of doing so. For what could have been such an enjoyable event basically turned out to be an evening at a bar that was selling bottled beers and left all of the group with a puzzled sense of disappointment.
Mention also has to be made of the tapas food on offer, it sounded wonderful on the menu but when delivered it was basically a single slice of bread with a small topping. For a euro a slice and with the price of the beers on top it made it into a very expensive few hours. This coupled with the fact that we were overcharged with the bill by a sum of 60 euros...yes you read that right, 60 euros overcharged to make the bill 190 euros instead of €130 made us all feel that the evening was a bit of a let-down. The bill was rectified but it took a while for them to understand the mistake.
OVERALL
The Villa des Arts is a lovely cafe bar with a pleasant garden area to sit and relax after a stroll around the gallery. I would highly recommend going there for an afternoon escape from the heat for a cold drink or a coffee.
It is a shame this was advertised as a beer festival because it missed that atmosphere of a festival and quite honestly was far too expensive for beers that are produced in the region.
