Welcome Drink · Grape Pomace Spirit
Souma
🥃
Photo coming soon
Pour water or ice into a glass of souma and, like ouzo, it turns cloudy white — locals call the effect louching, and it's the fastest way to spot a real one.
Souma is a clear spirit distilled from grape marc in small copper stills, served ice-cold as a welcome drink or alongside seafood meze. On some Dodecanese islands it's distilled unusually strong, occasionally well above 60% alcohol.
Why it's made this way: While most of Greece calls its pomace spirit tsipouro or raki, the Dodecanese kept its own name and style, distilled island by island in home stills — a small but telling marker of how distinct this island group's identity remained even after joining Greece in 1948.
More from Greece
Souvlaki (Σουβλάκι)
Koulouri (Κουλούρι)
Loukoumades
Spanakopita (Σπανακόπιτα)
🍷
Retsina (Ρετσίνα)
Kokoretsi
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.