Ritsa and Perry Nicholas have teamed up with Michael Stevens and Peter Hayes to create Tasmania’s very first locally-made ouzo.
The couple make the distinct brand of ouzo in the central highlands in Miena, a hundred kilometres south of their Elaia Cafe in Launceston.
“Our point of difference is that we are a locally made product and the ouzo is not made in the traditional way as it’s made in Greece [from grapes],” Ritsa Nicholas tells the Examiner.
“The addition of Tasmanian botanicals that complement the aniseed,” she said.
Ritsa Nicholas says her late father’s successful distillery inspired her to set out on her venture to create Koumozo Ouzo.
“”It wasn’t until recently when my mum told me the stories of my late father’s distillery and his success,” she said.
“Fascinated by my father’s Greek Island entrepreneurship, I set out to find out more which was made difficult by the lack of records kept and many of his peers having passed away.”
“After painstaking effort to find those long lost relatives that worked with dad, and Michael and Peter doing research and testing of their own, the first batch of Koumozo Ouzo was created.”
Mrs. Nicholas says she wants Koumozo Ouzo to reach Greece.
“We believe we have an opportunity to market this product not only in the local market [Tasmania] but to the national market as well as exploring international exporting opportunities,” she says.
“Our goal is to sell Tasmanian made Ouzo to Greece. An audacious goal, but why not?”
Source: The Examiner
