Fix (beer)

Advertisement for FIX beer from the late 19th century

FIX factories depicted in a 1930 advertisement

FIX Hellas beer in 2008: Bottle, can, and glass.

FIX Hellas beer, as relaunched in 2010: Bottle and can.

FIX is a brand of Greek lager beer. The FIX brewery was founded in 1864 by the Fuchs family in Athens, Greece (which had come to Greece from Bavaria with King Otto) and grew significantly when owned by Karl Fuchs (in Greek: Κάρολος Ιωάννου Φιξ, Karolos Ioannou Fix) . This became the first major brewery in Greece and made many deliveries to Mediterranean countries where beer is now very popular.

FIX (or FIX HELLAS, its most common trademark) became synonymous with beer in Greece, enjoying a virtual monopoly in the country for about 100 years until the mid-1960s, operating a number of factories that also produced soft drinks. International competition affected company sales. It lost first place in the Greek market in 1973 and continued to decline until 1983, when it went out of business.

A FIX legacy is its historic industrial buildings throughout the country. These include one of the most iconic modern structures of Athens, on Syngrou Avenue, designed by architect Takis Zenetos in 1957 (partially demolished in 1994);^[1] another historic structure, an early 20th-century FIX factory on Patission Avenue was demolished in 2002 after a battle for its preservation was lost in favor of creating a park.^[2]

In 1995, the FIX trademarks were bought^[3] by D. Kourtakis wineries from the National Bank of Greece, which had received the FIX trademarks in the liquidation of the company. Kourtakis organized the Olympic Brewery (Ολυμπιακή Ζυθοποιία) to produce FIX Hellas^[4] beer, with a label design strongly reminiscent of the original FIX label.

The new FIX beer was not financially successful and, in 2009, the Olympic Brewery company was sold to Hitos AVEE^[5] and, in 2010, FIX beer was again available.^[6] The relaunched beer has a new label, with references to the gold medals and prizes won by the original FIX beer. An aggressive advertising campaign, with references to the strong historic legacy of FIX beer in the Greek society, has dramatically boosted sales, effectively leading to a strong comeback of the brand.

Ownership and usage of the historic trademark has been a source of conflict; there are Fix Beers brewed in the United States and in Canada which claim to use the Fix recipes.^[7]

References

1. Historic Fix building on Syngrou Ave. (study for transformation into modern art museum)
2. Demolition of old FIX factory on Patission Ave.
3. Lawsuit upon lawsuit among the heirs of the once mighty trademark (Greek newspaper article)
4. Fix Hellas
5. The brand names of the historic Greek beer changed hands (Greek article)
6. (A set of news postings about the production of beer by Hitos AVEE, in Greek)
7. Fix Beer USA, Muskoka Fix Beer

External links

• Fix Hellas Beer Official Web site
• Olympic Brewery S.A. Official Web site