Beers from Around the World (#47)- KEO from Cyprus

Yes, I am a Turkish-American which of course makes it a bit ironic that the feature beer today is from the Republic of Cyprus (a country Turkish people refer to as Greek Cyprus), but we love irony. Cyprus was incidentally the only EU member nation I couldn't name in a quiz from mentalfloss.com, and of course I realized why that was.

The island-nation has a long, unique history and it is virtually impossible to talk about Cyprus without discussing the shish kebab political spats between Turkey and Greece that have gone on since the days when David threw a rock at Goliath.

But, we will somehow try to avoid that here. However, in full disclosure, I did visit the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus in 1991 when I was 21. The TRNC is only recognized by Turkey. Greece and Turkey went to war over Cyprus in 1974. The TRNC formed in 1983. Rauf Dentas became the country's first president, and he did not finally step down until 1983, which is pretty typical of Turkish and Greek politicians (forgive the ethnic humor).

As for KEO Beer, it has its own unique story. It is the only domestic brand served in Greek Cyprus. The brew, which is made in the port city of Limassol, has a colored lager appearance with a pilsner taste according to Wikipedia (yes, we're not sure what means either).

A controversy with KEO, which is ironically 20 percent owned by the Greek Orthodox Church (?!), occured when the beer was featured in a 2010 American adult film set in a Greek taverna in New York.

According to "Cyprus Mail," a KEO rep said: "We are always searching for ways to promote our products and Cyprus throughout the world, but this is certainly not a path we would have chosen."

"The Cyprus News-Mail" said that the scene in question happens when a woman pours a KEO into the mouth of her boyfriend as they are.....

We imagine that for political reasons it would be very difficult to find KEA at the Fez, a pub in the Northern Cypriot city of Kyrenia (Girne) or anywhere else above the green line which divides the island-nation.

The president for the Republic of Cyprus is the progressive politician Dimitris Christofias; his counterpart is Dervis Eroglu, who was elected president of the TRNC last year.

We imagine if the two ever have a 'beer summit' they may have to settle for a Pabst Blue Ribbon.