As the first Greek woman in history to found a liquor brand, Effie Panagopoulos celebrates her seventh anniversary of launching KLEOS Mastiha Spirit, the world’s first super premium mastiha, which is now featured in high-end cocktail bars, luxury hotels, cruise lines, and Michelin-starred restaurants across the U.S. and beyond.
HDN Team
In an extremely challenging time for both woman-owned brands and the alcohol beverage industry, KLEOS is an underdog brand that continues to gain wider recognition towing the line between modern mixology and healthy lifestyle and aligned with current trends for women and younger consumers.
“Health and wellness has permeated the spirits business, with no/low-ABV spirits booming. Clocking in at only 110cals, 4g in 2 full ounces, add mastiha’s residual health benefits for the gut, and you have a better-for-you white spirit alternative that tastes absolutely delicious by itself, and is magic in cocktails,” says Panagopoulos.
Product & Healing Properties
KLEOS is a better-for-you, low cal, low sugar, low-ABV botanical spirit made from an ancient Greek superfood called mastiha, a protected designation of origin (PDO) ingredient derived from a resin of the Skinos tree, which only grows in 24 villages in the southern part of the Greek island of Chios.
Mastiha kills h. pylori, the bacteria that causes peptic ulcers, gastric cancer, and acid reflux. Healing properties for the stomach and digestive system are retained in liquor form, making mastiha the ultimate aperitif/digestif. Offering a myriad of healing properties, mastiha is anti-bacterial, anti-microbial, anti-inflammatory, and antioxidant, most notably used as a gut health supplement, anti-aging skin care ingredient, and in oral hygiene.
KLEOS is the only double-distilled, small batch, low in sugar, luxury, and woman-owned mastiha brand on the market. KLEOS is crafted through a meticulous distillation process, resulting in a smooth, complex spirit that delivers aromas of carrots, eucalyptus and sage, and botanical tasting notes of cucumber, mint and lemongrass.
The versatility of KLEOS makes it a bartender’s dream. Dubbed “bartender’s olive oil”, it mixes 1:1 with every base spirit on the back bar, and a myriad of fruits, herbs and spices. It can also be used as a base in low-ABV cocktails and spritzes and is balanced enough to be consumed neat or as a sophisticated sipper on the rocks with a wedge of lemon.