Mastiha, pronounced mas-ti-ka, is a Greek liquor seasoned with mastic resin from the island of Chios. You’ve most likely by no means heard of Mastiha; few have except you’ve got Greek ethnicity.
Traditionally, it’s been a candy liquor, sometimes served chilly after a meal. Nonetheless, a brand new dry model produced for Miami-based Axia Spirit is making waves amongst mixologists and heralds the emergence of a brand-new class of Mastiha.
The mastic tree, Pistacia lentiscus, produces mastic resin. The tree grows wild throughout the Mediterranean area. In lots of locations, it’s thought of a weed. The time period mastic is derived from the Greek phrase mastichon, to chew.
On the southern portion of the Greek island of Chios within the Aegean, nevertheless, the native number of mastic tree (Pistacia lentiscus var. Chios) produces an exceptionally flavorful resin. Nicknamed “Tears of Chios,” it imparts distinctive natural, citrus and pine resin notes when it’s dissolved in an alcoholic spirit.
Chios Mastiha Liqueur is a protected designation of origin (PDO) within the European Union. It’s reserved for a spirit produced in Greece utilizing mastic resin solely from the island of Chios.
The island, the fifth largest Greek island within the Aegean, is located simply off the coast of Turkey and is separated from the Anatolian mainland by the Chios Channel.
There are roughly 1.5 million mastic timber on Chios, cultivated by about 5,000 growers. The typical farmer has between 500 and 10,000 timber. The resin is harvested from November to February.
A handheld, rake-like instrument is used to attain the bark. The resin flows from the cuts and hardens into small crystal-like “mastiha tears.” The tears finally fall to the bottom the place they’re collected. The world beneath the timber is roofed with a skinny layer of white limestone powder to assist preserve the crystals clear.
The tears are washed thrice and both packaged as is, floor into powder, or transformed into mastic oil. The island produces round 200 tons of mastic resin a 12 months. The mastic tears promote for about $100/kilo wholesale.
The usage of mastic resin goes again to antiquity. Traditionally, it was utilized in mummification rituals, balsams, incense, and even snakebite anti-venom.
Hippocrates really helpful mastic resin to stop digestive issues, colds and as a breath freshener. Mastic liquors had been extensively consumed as a tonic throughout Roman instances. Alcoholic spirits flavored with mastic resin have been widespread in Greece because the 18th century.
Mastic is extensively used as a spice in Greek cooking—from bread to marinades. It’s also widespread as an antioxidant complement.
Mastiha is typically confused with Ouzo, the basic Greek spirit. Whereas each drinks are quintessentially Greek, they’re totally different.
Ouzo is an alcoholic beverage flavored primarily with anise and smaller portions of fruits and herbs. Every producer has a novel recipe. Some producers additionally use a small quantity of mastic, however this isn’t a big ingredient in Ouzo.
Mastic liqueurs are produced by dissolving mastic crystals, powder or oil with alcohol after which distilling the combination, sometimes twice. Water and sugar are added to scale back the alcoholic power and sweeten the spirit.
In accordance with Axia:
Mastiha crystals are rigorously macerated after which redistilled at 80C in our alembic stills. Maceration does take some time, but it surely permits us to work gently with the crystals and draw out a spread of taste parts, lifting and refining totally different traits from the resin. From sultry rose to shiny cypress and daring anise, we’re thrilled with the broad spectrum we had been in a position to elicit from the crystals.
We use conventional alembic copper stills, whose dimension and form was rigorously calibrated to ship a novel sensory expertise within the closing distillate – layered complexity, velvety textures, and delicate steadiness.
The entire distillation course of takes ten hours. The still-strength spirit is rested on website in stainless-steel containers for a number of weeks to marry the flavors and develop a clean character. Purified native water is progressively added and gently blended to attain our desired ABV.
Axia Spirit was based by Adrian Clarke, a Bacardi clan member, a long-time beverage firm investor and entrepreneur, and Nikos Kalogiannis, a distiller and well-known Ouzo producer.
Axia produces its Mastiha spirit at Kalogiannis’ Plomari Distillery on the island of Mytilene. In contrast to conventional Mastiha liqueurs, nevertheless, Axia Mastiha solely has about .5% sugar by weight. Conventional Mastiha might be as a lot as 7% sugar.
Tony Chvala, Axia Spirit CEO, described the brand new, further dry beverage as “a brand new spirit class for shoppers on the lookout for taste, depth, complexity and pleasure in a drink.” He calls it a “one-of-a-kind style to a brand new technology of taste chasers and spirits lovers.”
Axia, Further Dry Mastiha, 40% ABV, 750 ml
The spirit is crystal clear. On the nostril, it’s semi-dry with inexperienced vegetative notes of reduce grass and notes of mint, anise and menthol, together with some floral potpourri, particularly rose petal and dried bergamot aromas. There’s a little bit of moist stone minerality accompanied by some spicy notes and a little bit of pepper.
There are pronounced citrus notes of orange and mandarin on the palate and a contact of lemon zest. The spirit has only a trace of candied sweetness, barely marshmallow-like, which, together with the citrus notes, offers it a slight marmalade-like taste. There’s a trace of clove, a chili-like pepperiness, delicate resinous notes of pine pitch and a persistent natural word.
The end is lengthy, with a lingering pine and natural word and a touch of bitterness on the finish.
Axia Mastiha works equally nicely straight up or on the rocks and because the base of a cocktail. Strive it with tonic water and a splash of orange bitters or blended with any natural liqueur or herb-infused easy syrup. It makes an amazing mojito too!
Cheers