The history of Avantes distillery starts on 1963, by Vassileios Katsos and his brother Spyros obtaining the official operating license. The distillery was located in Chalkida town center, across the sea, very close to the beach. At this busy meeting point, Chalkideans were enjoying our distillery’s products: ouzo, wine, cognac, vermouth.
In the course of time the distillery was systematically involved with the production and standardization of ouzo, liquer and cognac, under the branding label of AVANTES.
The tribal name of «AVANTES» was brought by the inhabitants of Euboea during the bronze age. The privileged location of Evia defines it as a land island with temperate and healthy climate that contributes to the area vegetation. The winds of the Aegean Sea meet with the untamed breeze of Evian gulf and crossing the leafy, with pine trees – FIR – rare herbs, mountain ranges, spread on saltines.

The uniqueness of the product lies in its rich aromatic character that comes from the botanicals used, a selection from Greek nature’s land and sea. The hand crafted aspect, emphasizes the process of the ingredients’ selection and how the distiller blends them in order to achieve the recipe used, to flavour the neutral grain spirit.

The term “distilled gin” means it is 100% traditionally distilled in pot stills in combination with the finest perfume techniques.The Three Graces have researched and experimented with recipes for more than a year to decide on the 13 different botanicals and the extraction processes to be used. They start with continuous distillation to flavor the base spirit with 8 botanicals: Juniper berries, angelica root, orris, lemon and orange peels, cardamom, coriander and cassia bark.

Then carefully selecting only the “heart” of the distillation, and using a vapor-infused method, also used for essence oils production.

In addition to the base botanicals, schinos, myrtle leaves and orange blossom from Evia, have been added, and are perfectly combined with critamos (from Crete) and pink pepper.  In order to enhance the final distillate’s aromas, the distiller has applied a smooth, light filtering method.Grace gin has an ABV of 45,7%. On the nose it is juniper driven. At the same time this fresh-pine aroma combines perfectly with the presence of critamos and schinos. The pink pepper and cassia flavor are in the background while myrtle hints enhance this complex aromatic profile.

The palate is interestingly oily and robust. Both juniper and critamos are immediately to the fore, making a perfect match with the spicy character from coriander, pink pepper and cassia bark. There are underlying hints of an intense freshness with earthy elements.