Greece has no “rakia” as such — it has tsipouro and tsikoudia, both pomace brandies, and ouzo, which is something else entirely and made a completely different way. The usual origin story is monastic: distillation of grape pomace on Mount Athos from around the 14th century, spreading outward from there across the mainland and islands.

The legal framework is distinctive. Alongside industrial producers, Greece licenses diimeri apostagmatopoioi — “two-day distillers” — traditional small operators permitted to distil for a restricted period each year using only their own fruit. It’s a large part of why so much genuinely good tsipouro never reaches a shop shelf.

Rakia Today

Tyrnavos, near Larissa in Thessaly, is the best-known name and holds its own protected designation — made both plain and anise-flavoured, with the anised version the local default through a long meal of small plates. Crete keeps its own pomace brandy entirely separate: tsikoudia is never anise-flavoured, the sharpest distinction from mainland tsipouro, and Cretans are firm about it.

Ouzo is Greece’s most exported spirit but shares almost nothing with tsipouro or tsikoudia beyond the drinking occasion — it’s rectified alcohol redistilled with anise and other botanicals, not a pomace brandy at all, and worth ruling out explicitly given how often the names get blurred together.

Native Spirits

Grape-Based

• Tsipouro of Thessaly and Tyrnavos [A] — The heartland style; Tyrnavos holds its own protected designation. Made both plain and anise-flavoured — the anised version is the local default across much of Thessaly, drunk through a long meal of small plates rather than as a shot.
• Tsipouro of Macedonia [A] — Northern Greece, including the Athos tradition. More often made without anise, and increasingly from named grape varieties — Xinomavro pomace tsipouro is a real thing and worth seeking.
• Tsipouro of Epirus [B] — Zitsa and the mountain villages. Usually unflavoured, often high-strength, with a rougher and more rustic profile than the Thessaly or Macedonia styles.
• Barrel-Aged Tsipouro [B] — A growing premium category, oak-aged for several years — closer in weight to marc de Bourgogne than to grappa.
• Tsikoudia of Crete [A] — Crete’s own pomace brandy, and never anise-flavoured — the sharpest distinction from mainland tsipouro. Usually clear, around 37–45%, served ice-cold with something to eat. Protected under its own designation; confusingly called “raki” locally, with no connection to Turkish rakı.

Infused & Flavoured

• Rakomelo [B] — Tsikoudia warmed with honey, cinnamon and sometimes cloves — a winter drink and folk remedy. A few commercial bottlings exist, but the real version is made to order.

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• Kazanemata [D] — Not a bottled product but the communal autumn distillation itself, typically October–November, when a Cretan village’s still is fired and the whole neighbourhood turns it into a multi-day gathering — the source of the best tsikoudia, if you’re there for it.

Not rakia: Ouzo — rectified alcohol redistilled with anise and other botanicals, usually slightly sweetened, louching white with water. Protected designations include Ouzo of Plomari, Mytilene, Kalamata, Thrace and Macedonia. Greece’s most exported spirit, but not part of the rakia family. Full profile →

Specialty Spirits

Greece has the deepest and most legally organised liqueur tradition of the eleven countries, with several products holding protected designations, alongside ouzo as its most exported spirit and Metaxa as its flagship aged one.

Anise

• Ouzo [A] — Greece’s national spirit by export volume — rectified alcohol redistilled with anise plus fennel, coriander, cardamom, mastic and other botanicals, then sweetened and reduced, minimum 37.5%. Under EU rules only Greece and Cyprus may produce it, and part of the alcohol must be flavour-distilled in traditional copper stills rather than simply compounded. Protected names include Ouzo of Mytilene and Plomari (the most famous), Kalamata, Thrace and Macedonia. Traditionally served with a splash of water, which turns it milky white as the anise oils come out of solution — the “ouzo effect” — and drunk slowly with meze, never as a shot.

Liqueurs

• Chios Mastiha [A] — Greece’s resin liqueur, seasoned with mastic gathered from the mastic trees of Chios — the only place in the world where the trees produce this resin, giving a distinctive pine or cedar-like flavour known as the “tears of Chios.” Usually 15–25%, best served cold at the end of a meal; Skinos is the best-known export brand, and a mastiha-flavoured ouzo also exists. Not to be confused with Balkan mastika, an unrelated anise spirit.
• Tentura [B] — A cinnamon-spiced liqueur from Patras dating to the 15th century — cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, citron and mandarin peel extracted into alcohol, then sweetened with caramel syrup into a richly flavoured amber digestif. Traditionally served warm in colder months, or over ice, and pairs well with coffee and desserts.
• Kitron of Naxos [B] — A protected Cycladic speciality made from the leaves, not the fruit, of the citron tree — macerated in neutral alcohol, distilled, then sweetened. Comes in three versions: green (30%, sweetest), colourless (33%) and yellow (36%, the driest and strongest).
• Koum Kouat [B] — Corfu’s kumquat liqueur, made from a tree established on the island since 1924 — the fruit is too bitter to eat raw, but the liqueur is sweet, often called the Greek answer to limoncello. The family-run Mavromatis distillery is the best-known producer.

Brandy

• Metaxa [A] — Greece’s flagship aged spirit, and strictly not a brandy at all — created in 1888 by Spyros Metaxas as a blend of oak-matured wine distillate with aged Muscat wine and a botanical infusion including rose petals, a composition that puts it in a legal category of its own. Graded by stars — 5, 7 and 12 — then Private Reserve and the premium AEN and Grande Fine bottlings; the 12 Star is where it becomes genuinely interesting.

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• Souma [C] — Made on Chios from sun-dried and fermented figs, distilled in the same copper stills used for ouzo and raki — a genuine rarity, unlike anything else in the region.
• Herb and flower liqueurs (sage, rose, thyme, Cretan dittany) [C–D] — Mostly local and often homemade.
• Greek brandy (Botrys, Cambas) [C] — Conventional wine distillates, domestic market.

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