ΟΥΖΟ

A 100-years-old recipe
In 1919-1920 our grandfathers, Konstantinos and Evangelos, while serving the Greek Army forces, found themselves in Smyrna, for the purpose of participating in the Asia Minor Campaign.
There, Evangelos, met and connected with Greek locals who were involved in the distillation and the use of herbs, seeds and fruits to flavour the distillates.
When he came back to Greece, at the end of his term and after the painful defeat and the terrible destruction of the Minor Asia Greek civilization, he was involved in the cultivation of the family vineyards, the vinification and the distillation.

At some point, he experimented with the use of aromatic seeds and herbs in the distillation process, the seeds which were used by the Greeks of Smyrna. He was excited by the result and he wrote the recipe down.
We decided to activate this “Golden Recipe” inherited from our grandfather and perfect it almost 100 years later in the 100% Ouzo Distillate called “GOLDEN RECIPE”.

The recipe includes 16 different herbs, fruits and seeds (some of which are extremely rare), which give a unique aroma to the distillate and a natural sweetness without the need for added sugar or other sweeteners.

In 2020 we bottle the DRY OUZO GOLDEN RECIPE and dedicate it to our ancestors, as a minimum tribute to their memory, their hard work and the difficult conditions they experienced.

A few words about the historical background…

There are lots of theories about the origin of ouzo. The most prevailing and well-documented one is that referred in the sources of Achilleas Tzartzanos, the father of the Greek Grammar, according to whom the word ‘ouzo’ is derived from the paraphrase of the term ‘use (uzo) Massalie’. The term ‘use Massalie’ was used as an indication on the wooden boxes with the silk exported from Tyrnavos to the port of Marseille around the mid-19th century.

As this silk was of superior quality, the local people, who didn’t speak the English language, considered the indication ‘Massalie’ as a synonym for the best quality. When someone first tasted the distillate of grapes (tsipouro), in which people from Tyrnavos added anise, while conducting experiments, exclaimed: this is uzo Massalie (namely, of superior quality). The Kardasis ouzo is produced according to a traditional recipe, owned by the family since 1914.

The secret of this recipe is the combination of 15 aromatic seeds and herbs, some of which are extremely rare, in balanced proportions. This sweetness characterising the KARDASIS OUZO is attributed precisely to the use of these herbs, since it doesn’t contain any sugar.
This extract of seeds and herbs of superior quality is distilled in a small copper pot still, manufactured by Greek craftsmen in Istanbul. The distillation process is done slowly, almost mystically. The distillate is collected and, after being diluted, is stored in stainless steel tanks for a short period, until the aromas are balanced. Then, it is filtered and bottled. The soft taste and intense aromas of anise, cinnamon, bitter almond, nutmeg and mastic (and not just these) are characterizing the KARDASIS OUZO.

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