Everything you want to know about Metaxa, the original Greek spirit

“Come quickly, I am tasting the stars” is a quote often attributed to Benedictine monk Dom Perignon, when he serendipitously created the sparkling wine and changed celebrations forever. It’s probably apocryphal but what’s true is that I am looking at the stars—the Scorpio constellation to be precise on the ceiling of Dubai’s Galaxy Bar.

The eye-catching marble rings behind the bar combined with the stars give a customer at this small, intimate bar the sense of being in a beautiful jewel box. The stars are there for good reason—this is probably one of the world’s few bars to feature a Metaxa-heavy cocktail menu. Stars are found on each bottle of Metaxa, with the story being that they refer to the number of years of aging. A common myth, but who better than the Greeks to create myths.

I’ve often wondered about those stars and the story they tell, and so when the chance came late last year to visit the Metaxa distillery in Greece, I grabbed it. It's a beautiful, sunny day when we reach Kifissia, an hour from downtown Athens, where the home of Metaxa is located.

Metaxa traces its origins back to 1888 when this eponymous spirit was created by Spyros Metaxa. Beginning life as a cognac, it had to switch to brandy, when GI rules for cognac were introduced in 1936 and then again in 1989 when the EU defined brandy, compelling Metaxa to change course again. It branded itself “the original Greek spirit”, but what exactly is Metaxa?

To answer that question, we’re led along dark corridors flanked by barrels full of Metaxa until we reach a brightly lit table at which a dapper young man, dressed casually in a blazer, is seated. Since Spyros Metaxa in 1888, there have been only six people who bear the title of “Metaxa Master”, and Konstantinos Kalpaxidis is the current one. He rises to greet us.

The table is covered with flasks, bottles and jars of the ingredients. Metaxa, in short, is a spirit that marries sweet Muscat wines with aged wine distillates and an aromatic bouquet of Mediterranean herbs and botanicals. It has been deconstructed, the parts strewn on the table, and our task is to recreate it as faithfully as possible.

We first taste a few of the components, starting with delicious Muscat wine that mainly comes from the island of Samos in the Aegean Sea. A mountainous island, it has beautiful terraced vineyards, Konstantinos tells us. These wines bring sweetness, smoothness and aroma to the liquid, and the ones we taste deliver all of that. These Muscat wines are also referred to as “vin de liqueur”—after the grapes are pressed and before their fermentation, alcohol is mixed with the grape juice to take it to a strength of 15% ABV. The wine is amber in colour and delicious with a rich taste of stone fruit—apricots, raisins and peaches.

This vin de liqueur vinified on Samos is subsequently brought to Kifissia, where is left to mature outdoors in stainless steel tanks. After several years the wine is “married” with wine distillates. The distillates are brought fresh from the still, and diluted to 60% ABV. These wine distillates are then further aged in either medium or medium-plus toasted 350-litre Limousin oak casks, for a few years to many decades.

To this blend of Muscat wines and distillates is added the Metaxa ‘magic masala’, the secret recipe of the house, a liquid concentrate that has a rich aromatic bouquet and smells of roses macerated in alcohol. It’s somewhat like alcoholic bitters, but not as concentrated. After the blending, the liquid is aged in bigger (3,500-litre) French Limousin oak casks.

Konstantinos now sets us to work, giving us a few hints about the ideal ratio of each of the liquids to bring it as close as possible to the reference liquid—a glass of Metaxa 12 stars. It’s a game blenders play to give us ordinary mortals a deeper appreciation of their craft. And it has worked every time, whether I’ve been in a whisky distillery on Islay, a rum distillery in India or in this musky cellar.

It's safe to say that the precision of the recipe is hard to distil down into a few minutes of our rudimentary efforts. But what did give me pause was the need to treat the magic potion with more restraint as it’s truly a powerhouse.

Our task completed (well, somewhat), we are whisked down another set of corridors to stand in front of a set of majestic doors. We’re asked not to use our phones inside, and are ushered inside a beautiful room that is pitch dark, except for the ceiling that’s glittering. The Greeks certainly know drama.

Three covered glasses are placed in front of each of us. The first is the Metaxa 12 stars, which uses wine distillates aged both in medium and heavily toasted oak casks. It tastes of dry fruits, orange peel and a hint of spice. Konstantinos uses this occasion to dispel us of the notion that the stars refer to the number of years of ageing. It does mean something to the family, he says mysteriously, something that’s under the hood, but he won’t elaborate.

The second glass contains Private Reserve Metaxa Orama, that feature Muscat wines grown on the slopes of Samos by the Metaxa Orama Farmer’s Collective. The Greek word orama means vision, and this group of vine growers who are dedicated to Metaxa are working towards a transition to agro-ecological practices, such as soil health and nutrient management and natural pest management. It tastes of caramel with a hint of pepper, and is delicious overall. We sense we’re in for a rare treat with the next one, and it doesn’t disappoint.

Due to the dry cellars that Metaxa is aged in the water evaporates faster than the alcohol and the alcoholic strength of the liquid within the casks actually increases as it lies maturing, quite the opposite of the “angel’s share”, a term we hear in the Scotch whisky industry where the grateful (or greedy) angels drink up to 5% of the whisky maturing in the casks (the loss to evaporation).

At Metaxa, the angels are generous, and the third glass contains a liquid called Angel’s Treasure. This is a single cask liquid with up to 4,500 beautiful glass decanters filled with liquid from a single cask and at cask strength, the tannins from the oak are noticeable on the palate.

The visit to Metaxa has been quite the mid-morning treat, with some myths blown to the winds. In these times of ferment in the alcobev industry, with brands and fads constantly sprouting, it’s not easy for legacy brands, especially those in off-centre categories like the one Metaxa inhabits. From all that we’ve seen and experienced, they’re preserving their legacy while ensuring that the brand (and the liquid) stays relevant to the next generation of consumers.

Vikram Achanta is founder of Tulleeho, a drinks training and consulting firm and co-founder of 30BestBarsIndia and the India Bartender Show.