Zivania on the shelves by the autumn

By Andy Georgiades

THE NATIONAL drink of Cyprus, available under-the-counter for years, is preparing to make its way onto store shelves – nice and legal.

If zivania, a drink that makes Ouzo taste like spring water, can clear one last hurdle, it will finally be available to the “free” market.

“We still have to go through parliament,” a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Tourism said yesterday, “so it’s not available for the time being.”

After years of discussion, the rules controlling the production and distribution of zivania – a clear alcohol distilled from grapes – onto the free market will go before the House of Representatives this autumn. If all goes well, the next time you go to buy beer or alcohol, you’ll have the choice to buy zivania as well.

But according to reports, a few supermarkets in Nicosia have jumped the gun and have already started stocking zivania on their shelves in the wake of the news.

“No legal action will be taken,” the ministry spokesman told the Cyprus Mail, “because passage of the bill is just a matter of time.”

A law forbidding the mass production of zivania dates back to 1900, when Cyprus was still a British colony.

The British prohibited its distillation because much of it was impure and caused food poisoning, or sometimes death.

The government wants to make sure that none of that happens again.

When the new law is put in place, the making of zivania will be overseen by the Council of Vine Producers (SAP). Under the new rules, the details of the producer must be written clearly on each bottle to ensure it is approved for consumption.

When asked why it has taken so long for a “national” drink to become legitimised, the spokesman said that because zivania could cause certain health problems, it has to be “properly” regulated.

He added that, because Cyprus is in the midst of EU harmonisation, the export of zivania to other parts of Europe would be inevitable.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.