ATHENS – You wouldn’t know it from a long August heat wave, but cooler, wetter weather earlier in the summer drove down beer sales in Greece too, no matter how much people love a cold one.

The weather didn’t get better until mid-July, already starting to get deeper into the tourist season too and by that time reports showed beer consumption had fallen 10 percent in a year, said Kathimerini, despite the growing popularity of craft beers, even though they are often markedly more expensive.

Another reason for the drop, the report said, is that last year’s World Cup had brought droves of fans to sit outdoors in cafes and bars to watch the matches around giant TV screens and socialize with fellow drinkers.

To compensate, local brewers are trying to boost demand by offering a greater variety of products, with good sales for both alcohol-free beer and high-and high-alcohol beers, especially stouts and red ales which are not Greek varieties typically although some brewers make black and dark beers.