Drinks with Anna by Anna Tusa
Opa or Yamas! Greek Cocktail Culture
THE SUMMER OF TUSA TRAVELS has begun, and I was excited to spend Memorial Day in Greece, where I was eager to immerse myself in the Greek cocktail culture. All you hear about is Ouzo in the States, but I wanted to dig deeper into the culture and discover what the locals drink. In Greece, locals drink Ouzo over ice in a highball glass, but the mastika is the local drink of choice. On many of the Greek islands, cocktails are made with a distilled spirit called mastika or matiha. Mastika has an herbal, botanical, and piney taste. Drinking it neat tasted like a shot of Pine Sol. The mastika is liqueur seasoned with mastic, a resin with a slight pine or cedar flavor that is gathered from the mastic tree found in the Mediterranean region. The mastic is made into a sweet liqueur produced on the island of Chios and used as a digestif or in craft cocktails. The mastika is presented to guests upon arrival at resorts and offered as a gesture of friendship after dinner, serving as a complimentary digestif from restaurant owners. Yamas! Not really my cup of tea neat, but mixed with other spirits and mixers, it made delicious cocktails. The Seza Cocktail, made of mastika, gin, fresh lemonade, soda, and mint, is one example that is quite tasty. In Naxos, I was able to try another Greek liqueur called kitron (Citron). I visited Kitpon Vallindras to learn about the Kitron Naeoy – a famous distillery that produces the kitron. Kitron is a lemon liqueur that is made from the fruit and leaves of the kitron tree. The kitron fruit is very large and oddly shaped, not like a lemon or citrus tree, one would find growing in Plaquemines Parish. The distillery was interesting, as we were able to view the tools and machines used for distilling back in the day. 62
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There are three varieties of kitron: green (60 proof), yellow (70 proof), the strongest and east sugary, and a clear, which is somewhere in between, best for a firsttimer. Established in 1896, the distillery is now mainly used as a museum and kitron tasting room. My favorite part and the most educational was the tasting of all the different kitron. Now on to Ouzo, the Greek national spirit, a clearcolored liqueur made from grape must (unfermented juice remnants) with a very strong anise taste. Along with anise, ouzo may contain other spices like fennel, cinnamon, or cardamon. There are approximately 300 ouzo producers in Greece today. Many Greeks drink it over ice or in a tall, slim glass so they can add as much water as they like. Ouzo culture is very different from that of America. We are taught it should be consumed neat,