Ouzo
Greece · Anise
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.