By D. Alexaki
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Next season’s Oktoberfest may possibly be more …anise seed-flavored, as recent figures show that the German market now ranks first worldwide in the consumption of ouzo, a quintessentially Grecian clear spirit.
The German market actually absorbs more ouzo than Greece, while the Mideast markets are also growing by leaps and bounds.
Ouzo manufacturers in Greece this week said imports to Germany translate annually into 1.3 million cases, with each case containing 12 0.7-liter bottles, making the country the biggest ouzo consumer in the world.
Conversely, the spirit’s consumption in Greece is sliding, with the latest figures pointing to roughly 800,000 cases sold in the country at last count.
As far as the domestic market is concerned, producers cited repeated hikes in indirect and “sin taxes” in crisis-battered Greece as well as a surge in a clear homemade or bootleg pomace brandy known as “Tsipouro”, which is flavored or unflavored depending on the producer and region of the country.
With the trend in Greece now turning to cheaper bulk varieties of spirits, industrially distilled and bottled ouzo accounts for 70 percent of exported spirits from the country.
