A traditional Greek spirit distilled from grape marc, the skins, pips and stems left after pressing. It is made across Greece in both unaged and oak-aged styles, and in anise-flavoured versions. The European geographical indications for tsipouro cover Macedonia, Thessaly and Tyrnavos; the Spyropoulos spirit is a Euboean tsipouro.

Savatiano, known in Evia as White Kontoura. The marc is selected from vineyards in Evia and neighbouring Boeotia, and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel before distillation.

How is the aged tsipouro made?

It is distilled in copper batch stills fitted with fractional purifying columns, with only the heart of the run retained, then matured in 225 litre French and American oak casks before a further settling period in stainless steel tanks.

How should it be served?

At 16 to 20°C, without ice, in a tulip or grappa glass. A few drops of water can open the aged expressions. It is traditionally drunk with food, alongside meze or after a meal with chocolate, nuts and dried fruit.

The five year release, matured for a minimum of five years in French and American oak and bottled at 44% alcohol in numbered 700ml bottles. It carries candied stone fruit, orange peel, fig, dark chocolate, vanilla and hazelnut, and is the most concentrated expression in the range.

Spyropoulos Family Distillery | Gourmet Groceries

Discover the Unparalleled Quality of Spyropoulos Family

Tsipouro is made from marc, the skins, pips and stems left when grapes have been pressed. The quality of the spirit therefore depends almost entirely on the quality of the marc and the discipline of the cut. Spyropoulos works with selected Savatiano pomace from Evia and neighbouring Boeotia, ferments it in temperature-controlled stainless steel, and distils in stills made entirely of copper, each fitted with a fractional purifying column.

Only the middle of the distillate is kept. The heads and the tails, which carry the harsher volatile compounds, are discarded rather than blended back in for volume. The spirit is then brought to strength with water from the family’s own spring at Setta, high on Mount Dirfys, and bottled at 40% alcohol.

What makes Spyropoulos Family special

Distilled from 100% Savatiano marc, the variety known locally in Evia as White Kontoura.
Two batch stills built entirely of copper, each with a fractional purifying column.
Only the heart of the distillate is bottled, with heads and tails set aside.
Reduced to strength with spring water from the family’s own source at Setta, on Mount Dirfys.
Aged expressions matured in 225 litre French and American oak casks, then rested in stainless steel.

Evia is Greece’s second largest island and one of its more overlooked wine regions, running from the mainland channel at Chalkida down to the Aegean. Savatiano dominates its white plantings, drought tolerant and generous, and the marc it leaves behind is aromatic enough to reward careful distillation. Around Krieza the land is low and dry, with Mount Dirfys rising to the north and the sea close on both sides.

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The People Behind Spyropoulos Family

Stavros Spyropoulos spent years in the United States before returning to Evia, and it was there, after each harvest from 1998 onward, that he started distilling for the household. What began as a seasonal ritual for family and friends turned into the idea of a proper distillery, built to modern specification but run on the way he already worked.

His son Fotis Spyropoulos, who studied business administration and holds an MBA, and Fotis’s wife Angeliki, changed direction professionally to take the project on. The division of labour is straightforward: the older generation set the standard for the spirit, the younger generation built the company that could sell it beyond Evia.

How Spyropoulos Family began

The distillery was established in 2013 at Kampos Kriezon, near the village of Krieza in southern Evia, not far from Lake Dystos. The first run went through the stills on Christmas Eve of that year. Bottling is handled at a second facility at Spanos Vrisi, in Aliveri, a few kilometres away on the coast.

The range grew from there. Two unaged white tsipouros, one of them called Setta after the spring, were joined by an anise version made with anise from northern Evia, then by the aged tsipouro that has become the flagship, and most recently by π5ντε, a limited release matured for at least five years.

The cut, the water and the cask

Three decisions define the house style. The first is the cut: taking only the heart of the run costs yield, and the family accepts that cost. The second is the water. Reduction water is not a neutral ingredient at these strengths, and Spyropoulos uses its own spring at Setta rather than treated municipal supply.

The third is what happens afterwards. The aged tsipouro goes into 225 litre barrels of French and American oak, then finishes its maturation in stainless steel, where the wood influence settles and integrates before bottling. The result is amber rather than water white, and it is meant to be drunk slowly at 16 to 20°C, without ice.

Why this matters

A single variety, Savatiano, rather than mixed marc of unrecorded origin.
Marc selected from Evia and Boeotia and fermented under temperature control.
Copper stills with purifying columns, run in batches rather than continuously.
A private spring at Setta used for reduction to bottling strength.
Oak maturation followed by a settling period in stainless steel.

“We make good tsipouro with a profit if we can, with a loss if we must, but always good tsipouro.”

At the Table: How Spyropoulos Family Tsipouro Is Drunk in Evia

Tsipouro belongs to the table rather than the bar. In Evia it appears alongside food, poured in small measures at the start of a long meze or offered at the end of a meal, and the aged expressions in particular are treated as something to sit with rather than something to order in rounds.

Served at 16 to 20°C, never over ice, which mutes the aromatics
Poured into a tulip or grappa glass that gathers the aroma
The unaged tsipouro taken with meze: octopus, cheeses, preserved vegetables
The aged tsipouro taken after the meal, with dark chocolate, nuts and dried Euboean figs
π5ντε kept for the occasions that justify opening a numbered bottle

The Greek habit of drinking tsipouro with food rather than apart from it is worth keeping. It is a spirit built around aroma, and aroma reads better against a plate of something salty or sweet than on its own.

Spyropoulos Family: What Sets This Tsipouro Apart

Tsipouro is a protected Greek spirit category, though the regional geographical indications recognised at European level cover Macedonia, Thessaly and Tyrnavos rather than Evia. What distinguishes a Euboean tsipouro is therefore the specification itself: the variety, the still, the water and the wood.

Quality	Description
Variety	100% Savatiano, known in Evia as White Kontoura, a drought tolerant white variety that dominates plantings across Attica and the island.
Raw material	Selected grape marc from Evia and Boeotia, fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel before distillation.
Distillation	Batch distillation in stills built entirely of copper, each carrying a fractional purifying column, with only the heart of the run retained.
Water	Spring water from the family's own source at Setta, on Mount Dirfys, used to bring the spirit to 40% alcohol.
Ageing	French and American oak casks of 225 litres for the aged tsipouro, followed by a period in stainless steel. π5ντε spends a minimum of five years in wood and is bottled at 44%.

The aged spirit shows amber colour with dried fruit, orange peel, vanilla, cocoa and sweet spice on the nose, hazelnut and roasted almond on the palate, and a long finish that returns to chocolate. The unaged tsipouro is cleaner and more direct, with the grape still legible behind it.

Daily Use in the Greek Kitchen and at the Greek Table

Pairing tsipouro is largely a question of matching intensity. The white expressions cut through salt and oil; the aged ones want fat, sugar or smoke to sit against. Serving temperature matters more than most people expect.

Pairing	Why it works
Grilled octopus and seafood meze	The unaged tsipouro is clean and slightly peppery, which lifts charred seafood without competing with it. The anise expression works particularly well here.
Aged and smoked cheeses	Oak-aged tsipouro has the weight to stand up to a hard, salty cheese, and the vanilla and spice notes read as sweetness against it.
Dark chocolate and dried figs	The classic Euboean finish to a meal. Cocoa in the glass meets cocoa on the plate, and the dried fruit picks up the raisin and orange peel notes.
Nuts, especially hazelnut and almond	The aged spirit already carries roasted nut character, so the pairing is an echo rather than a contrast.
Serving and glassware	16 to 20°C without ice, in a tulip or grappa glass. A few drops of water can open the aged expressions. Chilling flattens them.

Bottles should be stored upright and away from direct light. Spirits do not develop further in glass, so an opened bottle is at its best within a reasonable time rather than kept indefinitely for an occasion that never arrives.

Sustainable and Ethical Practices at Spyropoulos Family

At Spyropoulos Family the raw material is itself a by-product. Marc is what remains after pressing, and distilling it turns something the wine trade would otherwise have to dispose of into a finished spirit. The distillery’s annual throughput, up to around 50 tonnes of distillate, is modest by industrial standards and deliberately so.

Sourcing stays local: marc from Evia and Boeotia, anise from northern Evia, water from the family’s spring at Setta. The stills are run in batches, which allows the cut to be judged run by run rather than set once and left. Discarding the heads and the tails reduces volume, and the family has been consistent that volume is not the point.

Their approach

A distillery built in 2013 around a habit that started in 1998 has a particular character: the specification came first and the commercial structure was fitted to it afterwards. Stavros Spyropoulos set the standard, taking only the heart of each run and reducing it with spring water from Setta rather than anything else to hand; Fotis and Angeliki built the company that could carry that standard to market, adding an anise expression made with anise from northern Evia, a five year aged release in numbered bottles, and a bottling line at Aliveri, while keeping the distillation at Kampos Kriezon where it began. The family motto, that they will make good tsipouro at a profit if they can and at a loss if they must, is quoted often enough by the trade that it has become the plainest available summary of how the business is run.

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Award-Winning Tsipouro from a Young Distillery

Spyropoulos Family put its first bottles on the market in 2014 and was collecting stars at the Great Taste Awards within two years, across the 2016 to 2018 editions and for both the white and the aged tsipouro. For a distillery that had existed for barely a season when it first entered, that recognition arrived quickly.

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Frequently Asked Questions About Spyropoulos Family

What is tsipouro?

A traditional Greek spirit distilled from grape marc, the skins, pips and stems left after pressing. It is made across Greece in both unaged and oak-aged styles, and in anise-flavoured versions. The European geographical indications for tsipouro cover Macedonia, Thessaly and Tyrnavos; the Spyropoulos spirit is a Euboean tsipouro.
Which grape is used?

Savatiano, known in Evia as White Kontoura. The marc is selected from vineyards in Evia and neighbouring Boeotia, and fermented in temperature-controlled stainless steel before distillation.
How is the aged tsipouro made?

It is distilled in copper batch stills fitted with fractional purifying columns, with only the heart of the run retained, then matured in 225 litre French and American oak casks before a further settling period in stainless steel tanks.
How should it be served?

At 16 to 20°C, without ice, in a tulip or grappa glass. A few drops of water can open the aged expressions. It is traditionally drunk with food, alongside meze or after a meal with chocolate, nuts and dried fruit.
What is π5ντε?

The five year release, matured for a minimum of five years in French and American oak and bottled at 44% alcohol in numbered 700ml bottles. It carries candied stone fruit, orange peel, fig, dark chocolate, vanilla and hazelnut, and is the most concentrated expression in the range.

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Spyropoulos Family Distillery: Small-Batch Tsipouro from Kampos Kriezon, Evia