Sales Hung Over, Ouzo Takes Another Shot

Old songs and tourist T-shirts boast of the kick of ouzo, Greece’s potent licorice-tasting liquor.

But makers of the aniseed-based spirit are suffering a hangover of a different sort. Changes in Greek drinking habits and lifestyle have left ouzo struggling to compete with chic alternatives like Scotch and vodka.

Ouzo, long associated with roughneck seaports and old men’s cafes, doesn’t fit well with the Euro-cool adopted by many younger Greeks who have grown up as the country shed its postwar poverty and cultural isolation.

So distillers of ouzo (OO-zo) are seeking help from another staple of the modern age--marketing.

New advertising campaigns are trying to move ouzo up-market by featuring hip and attractive people enjoying the favorite Greek pastime of eating with friends. Ouzo, which turns milky when mixed with water, is typically drunk with ice in a tall glass to accompany snacks, seafood or a light meal.

“Until now, nobody ever took the trouble to present ouzo properly. It sold on its own,” said Alexandros Papadodimas, brand manager for Ouzo 12, one of Greece’s leading ouzo makers.

The company’s “campaign will try and refer to traditional qualities like friendship, good fun, the sea, couples--things that we miss,” he said.

The new ads also play heavily on ouzo’s history in an effort not to alienate older customers with the changes in image or appearance. Some manufacturers have traded their old squat screw-top bottles for stylish corked models.

“Instead of appealing to one type of person, the marketing appeals to everyone who might consume alcoholic drinks,” said Yannis Nolas, a technical consultant at the Greek Distillers Association.

According to liquor industry estimates, ouzo consumption slumped by about 14 percent in the 1990s and remains a distant second to Scotch as Greece’s most popular liquor. Per-capita ouzo consumption is now hovering just above 1.5 quarts per year, the trade group figures.

The industry doesn’t collect detailed statistics on production and sales, however, because ouzo is also made by many small-scale producers for local consumption or sale from the barrel at restaurants. There are about 7,000 licensed ouzo stills in operation.

“Every town and every village has its own ouzo,” said Takis Perdikas, who runs a central-Athens restaurant with nearly 400 brands of ouzo on sale or display.

The driving force behind the effort to revamp ouzo’s image, ironically, isn’t Greek. Several leading ouzo brands were bought last year by large international firms: Pernod-Ricard acquired top-selling Ouzo Mini, Ouzo 12 went to Campari International and Remy-Cointreau purchased Plomari.

The drink giants are also looking to expand export sales, concentrating on people acquainted with the drink from holidays in Greece as well as Greek communities abroad. More than 80 percent of exported ouzo is now sold in Germany, where a recent advertising campaign raised the spirit’s market share.

Ouzo is protected by the European Union as an exclusively Greek product. As a traditional drink, it is subject to half the tax imposed on most other EU spirits.

Greeks are so protective of the ouzo name that they helped tie up a $17 billion trade deal between the EU and South Africa, until South Africa agreed to phase out the use of the term “ouzo” for spirits produced there. The same deal applies to the name “grappa,” a traditional Italian liquor.

In Greece, an ordinary bottle of ouzo sells for around 1,600 drachmas, about $5, in the supermarket, compared to $12 for a mid-range Scotch. Even less expensive ouzo can be found at shops where it is sold from the barrel.

Ouzo begins as alcohol made from grape skins or other local produce. It is then brought together with herbs and other ingredients, including star anise, coriander, cloves, angelica root and even cinnamon and lime blossom. The mixture is boiled in a copper still, regulated by a taster. The resulting liquid is cooled and stored for several months before it is diluted to about 80 proof, or 40 percent alcohol.

But homemade ouzo can be a deliriously strong 80 percent alcohol.

Moderation is required, restaurant owner Perdikas advised.

“The aniseed gives you a headache. It gives me a headache,” he said. “You shouldn’t have more than two or three glasses.”