Metaxa is a Greek brandy that has been around for over a century (founded in 1888, to be precise). It's made from a blend of different wines, and it has a distinctively smooth and sweet taste. Metaxa is generally held to be fruity, sweet (with honey notes) and floral.

Out of curiosity I tried it simply with a splash of soda, as I had a bottle of soda open in the fridge, and it worked really well. The Metaxa Master did say this was a versatile spirit, and he’s absolutely right. (Well, of course he is, that’s why he’s only the 5th Metaxa Master since the company was founded in 1888!)On the nose, it has more spice, particularly cinnamon, and less stone fruit. There are more pronounced dark, dried fruit notes of raisin, fig, and prune; dark chocolate, and the classic rancio aromas of cigar box and new leather. Hi and WELCOME to Cook Like a Greek! We’re Lizz and Stephanie, a mother-daughter team living in the San Francisco Bay Area. Living under the same roof again, after many years apart, we noticed how much we enjoyed being in the kitchen and cooking together. It has brought us even closer, and we saw it as an opportunity to create and share traditional Greek family recipes with our family and friends. Metaxa sources its wine from vineyards in the center of the 11.3-mile-wide island. The vineyards are typically located on mountainous ledges that receive good sun and wind exposure. The third ingredient used in crafting Metaxa is an herbal extract. The complete list of elements in the extract is known to only a handful of people.

Later, when cognac became strictly defined Metaxa and other drinks had to redefine themselves, and Metaxa became a brandy. For years it was regarded as the Greek brandy. But then the spirits world defined what a brandy was, and brandy was a drink that, amongst other things, did not contain wine. Metaxa is a distilled spirit made in Greece from brandy and wine from sun-dried grapes, blended with Muscat wine.

I never cared much for the taste of it myself so I've come up with my own Metaxa drink by adding sugar syrup, water and lemon in a tall glass of ice with mint leaves. It's very cool and refreshing. Metaxa 12-Star is the most mature of the regular range of Metaxa Greek spirits, and there’s a push on to familiarize American palates with this classic Greek drink, or the Original Greek Spirit. Strain into your sugar rimmed old fashioned glass or low-ball glass, add a twist of lemon and enjoy! The other two Metaxas in their regular range are 5-Star and 7-Star, so you can figure out that they contain spirits aged for at least five and seven years respectively. So while the number of stars isn’t a comment on how ‘good’ the spirits are, you would naturally expect the 12-star to be richer and more complex, thanks to the extra time in the barrel. More About the Metaxa Stars The Metaxa 12 Star is richer on the palate and offers more layered complexity. The Muscat wine that goes into the blend is more concentrated and oxidized and is made with grapes grown at higher altitudes.

In addition, there are also special bottlings of Angel’s Treasure, Single Cask and Amen, although these are not available in the US and are very difficult to find even in Europe. The 5 Star Metaxa uses a blend of wine from Samos and Lemnos, while all the other expressions use only Samos wine. On the nose it’s like a brandy, but a brandy with a subtle difference. There’s a floral sweetness in there but it’s a really rich floral sweetness, not the subtler notes you might get with a Scotch or a brandy. That’s because Metaxa also has botanicals in it, including rose petals.Metaxa’s core line consists of 5 Star, 7 Star, 12 Star, and Private Reserve bottlings. There is also a 3 Star expression that is only available in Greece. None of these expressions carry an age statement. The different numbers are meant to convey quality levels, with Metaxa 12 and Private Reserve being the highest rated rather than maturation length. Generally speaking, the higher the number, the more aging it has received and the greater the percentage of Samos wine in the blend. It was developed by Metaxa Master Costas Raptis in 1992 and was based on specific selections of butts that showed exceptional flavor and complexity. The base spirit is aged for one year in casks made from French Limousin oak. This large-grained and tannic wood offers good extraction and speeds up maturation. This is a picture of grapes of the variety muscat. They are used to produce the famous sweet Vin ... [+] Doux wine on the island of Samos. getty