Metaxa

The company's founder, Spyros Metaxa, was born in 1848 into a family of Greek silk merchants. Exposed during his travels to spirits and wines from around the world, he created Metaxa in 1888, when he owned a tavern. The "Salamina Warrior", the Metaxa emblem, is inspired by an ancient medallion that Spyros Metaxa found when building his distillery in Piraeus in 1888. In 1968, the distillery and the Metaxa cellars were relocated to new facilities in Athens's northern suburb of Kifissia.

On Samos, an island in the eastern Aegean Sea, grapes, primarily Muscat, are cultivated in terraces and hand-picked. Metaxa uses sweet Muscat wines sourced from the island, which are aged several years and so somewhat oxidized. The maker used to buy wine from independent vintners but has begun making its own, from fruit grown in its own vineyards. Its base brandies come mostly (80%) from Spain and Italy, and the rest from Greece, where they are distilled from sun-dried grapes. These ingredients are aged separately and then combined in Limousin oak casks. Mediterranean botanicals are added as part of the finishing process, including May rose, also a component of Chanel No. 5 perfume. The result is aged for at least two years but in some cases decades.

The company's master distiller or master blender as of 2025, Konstantinos Kalpaxidis, is the sixth since 1888.