Metaxa Ouzo Greek Anise Spirit 750ml

The mastic tree — Pistacia lentiscus var. Chia — grows in the Mediterranean basin. But only on the island of Chios, in the southern Aegean Sea, does the tree produce the aromatic resin that has made it one of the most prized and the most specifically Greek botanical ingredients in the world. The "tears of Chios" — the drops of crystallized resin that weep from cuts in the mastic tree's bark — have been harvested on Chios since antiquity. Greek writers mentioned them. Ancient Egyptians used them in embalming. Today they are a Protected Designation of Origin ingredient whose cultivation is controlled entirely by the cooperative of Chios mastic growers — an island's most specific treasure, available nowhere else on earth.

Spyros Metaxa founded his distillery in Piraeus in 1888 — the year that gave Greece what would become one of its most recognized and most internationally distributed spirits brands. The Metaxa brandy — the amber Mediterranean spirit blended from wine distillates, Muscat wine, and a proprietary botanical blend — made the house famous worldwide. The ouzo was a different expression of the same philosophy: take the finest Mediterranean botanicals, distill them in small batches in copper pot stills, and create something that is simultaneously the most genuine and the most specifically Greek expression of what the ouzo tradition can achieve.

What distinguishes Metaxa Ouzo from the category is the mastic. Most ouzo producers work with aniseed and sometimes fennel as their primary botanical identity. Metaxa adds the tears of Chios — the resinous, slightly pine-adjacent, slightly sweet, specifically Aegean quality that no other botanical in the Mediterranean produces. The Liquor Barn's confirmed characterization: 88 Points from Wine Enthusiast. The official Metaxa characterization: "sea breeze and floral with mastic notes." The passion spirits importer note: "aniseed, licorice, iris flower, sea breeze."

Water turns it milky white. Ice makes it sing. Mezze makes it complete.

Origins & Craftsmanship

The House of Metaxa was founded in 1888 by Spyros Metaxa in Piraeus — the port city that serves as Athens' maritime gateway, whose specific position at the junction of Greek trade routes made it the natural home for a spirits producer whose products would travel to every corner of the world. Today Metaxa is owned by Rémy Cointreau and produced in Athens, with the ouzo expression continuing the original recipe from the early 1900s.

Ouzo is a Protected Designation of Origin spirit legally defined under Greek and EU law — it must be produced in Greece or the specific area of Cyprus, and must be flavored primarily with anise or aniseed. The authentic ouzo method requires the botanicals to be distilled rather than simply macerated — the copper pot still distillation that concentrates the anise's most aromatic and the most specifically complex essential oil compounds, producing a spirit of genuine aromatic richness rather than the simpler profile of macerated anise spirits.

Metaxa Ouzo begins with a base of Tsipoura — pressed grape pomace, the traditional Greek base spirit whose grape origin is one of the most specifically authentic ouzo production details, connecting the spirit to Greece's wine heritage as directly as the island's vineyards. The six Mediterranean botanicals are then distilled in 100% copper pot stills in small batches:

Aniseed (Anise) — the primary botanical and the legal requirement for ouzo classification, providing the sweet, slightly licorice-adjacent flavor identity that defines the category. Metaxa's aniseed is the most specifically aromatic and the most authentic quality available from Mediterranean anise cultivation.

Fennel — the frond-like herb whose slightly sweet, slightly herbal, anise-adjacent character adds depth and complexity beyond pure aniseed alone.

Coriander — adding the most unexpected and the most specifically citrus-spiced secondary botanical contribution — warm, slightly orange-adjacent, and adding genuine complexity to the anise-fennel foundation.

Chios Mastic (Mastiha) — the most specifically and the most dramatically unusual ouzo botanical available in any commercially produced Greek anise spirit. The crystallized resin of the Pistacia lentiscus tree, cultivated exclusively on Chios under a centuries-old cooperative tradition, whose specific combination of pine resin, slightly cedar-adjacent, and specifically Aegean aromatic compounds adds a dimension to Metaxa Ouzo that no other ouzo produces at commercial scale.

Iris flower — adding the most delicate and the most specifically floral secondary aromatic from the official Metaxa sensory note.

Plus additional botanicals completing the six-botanical profile.

The "ouzo effect" — the most specifically and the most immediately recognizable visual phenomenon in Greek spirits: when water or ice is added to ouzo, the clear spirit turns milky white as the water molecules displace the alcohol that was keeping the anise essential oils dissolved, causing the anethole to precipitate into suspension and create the distinctive louche that has been the signature of Greek anise spirits since antiquity.

Critics Reviews

Wine Enthusiast — 88 Points:
Confirming Metaxa Ouzo's quality standing among Greek anise spirits.

Liquor Barn (confirmed comprehensive tasting):
"Pungent aniseed leads immediately, followed by the herbaceous complexity of fennel and a subtle resinous quality from the Chios mastic. The palate is medium-bodied and anise-forward with a faint sweetness from the grape base and a warming finish."

Passion Spirits / Official Metaxa characterization:
"Sea breeze and floral with mastic notes. Aniseed, licorice, iris flower, sea breeze. Perfectly balanced with anise, a rare and treasured Greek ingredient. Mastic brings a gentle sea breeze sense and a velvety texture to the spirit."

Liquorama (confirmed tasting notes):
"Aroma: A fragrant bouquet dominated by sweet anise, complemented by subtle herbal undertones and a hint of mastic's pine-like freshness. Palate: A smooth and velvety texture with pronounced flavors of licorice and anise, balanced by herbal notes and a touch of sweetness. Finish: A long, warming finish with lingering anise and a delicate herbal aftertaste."

Metaxa official:
"The fine character of the mastic is perfectly balanced with anise. This method brings the refreshing feeling of the sea breeze into METAXA Ouzo, that subtly guides through the bouquet of botanicals and spices and finally surprises with complexity and balance."

Tasting Profile

Nose
Crystal clear — pure and bright, the copper pot still distillation's most immediately visible quality statement before the water transforms it. The nose opens with the most immediately and the most powerfully aromatic quality of any Greek anise spirit: sweet anise leads with the concentrated, warm, slightly licorice-adjacent aromatic that ouzo's primary botanical produces most completely at 40% ABV. Subtle herbal undertones follow from fennel and coriander — slightly green, slightly warm, and adding the secondary complexity that distinguishes Metaxa from simpler single-botanical anise spirits. Then the mastic arrives: the hint of pine-like freshness and sea breeze quality that Chios mastic specifically and exclusively produces, adding the most memorably unusual and the most specifically Mediterranean secondary aromatic quality available in any commercially produced ouzo. Iris flower adds the most delicate and the most specifically floral secondary dimension. The sea breeze quality — not metaphorical but specifically real in Metaxa's ouzo production philosophy — threads through everything, the coastal Aegean character that the mastic and the copper still distillation together produce most elegantly.

Palate
Smooth, velvety, and anise-forward — the confirmed palate characterization across every source. The entry delivers the pronounced anise and licorice character most immediately — bold, warm, and entirely defining. Fennel adds the green, herbal secondary dimension. The mastic's velvety texture contribution is most directly palate-apparent — adding a smoothness and a roundness that the mastic resin's specific chemical compounds deposit in a way that no other botanical achieves. Herbal notes balance the sweetness. A touch of sweetness from the Tsipoura grape base rounds the mid-palate. Coriander adds the most subtle and the most specifically spiced tertiary quality. The sea breeze quality — coastal, mineral, slightly salt-adjacent — provides the most specifically Mediterranean and the most specifically Aegean secondary character.

Finish
Long, warming, and anise-persistent. Lingering anise and a delicate herbal aftertaste carry the close in the most consistently confirmed and the most accurate finish characterization. The mastic's resinous quality persists as the most specifically unusual and the most memorably distinctive secondary finish note — slightly pine, slightly cedar, entirely Chios. A long, warming close that invites the next sip and the next plate of mezze.

Quick Overview

Serving & Occasion

The traditional Greek serve is the most culturally authentic and the most specifically beautiful: pour neat into a tall, narrow ouzo glass (or small tumbler), add cold water to taste — the clear spirit turning milky white as the anethole louches — and sit down to mezze. No rushing. No standing. The Greek relationship with ouzo is fundamentally a relationship with leisure, with company, and with the specific pleasure of a long afternoon that has nowhere to go. Ice works equally well — the cold releasing the mastic's sea breeze quality most vividly. Serve chilled, straight from the refrigerator, for the most aromatic neat experience.

Cocktail Suggestions

Classic Ouzo and Water (the only serve that matters in Greece)
2 oz Metaxa Ouzo · cold still water to taste. The ratio is personal — typically 1:1 to 1:3 ouzo to water. The milky transformation is the most beautiful visual phenomenon in any spirits serve, and the dilution opens the mastic and the iris flower notes most completely.

Ouzo Spritz
1.5 oz Metaxa Ouzo · grapefruit soda · fresh lemon · mint sprig. Built over ice. The grapefruit amplifies the citrus-spice of the coriander while the mint bridges the fennel's herbal quality — a contemporary Aegean aperitivo.

Greek Negroni
1 oz Metaxa Ouzo · 1 oz Campari · 1 oz sweet vermouth. Stirred over ice, expressed orange peel. The anise character and the mastic's pine-resin quality carry through Campari's bitterness in a Mediterranean Negroni variation of genuine distinction.