SENSES: opening the doors of perception

The new menu at Avra begins with SENSES. This first chapter features four seasonal cocktails built around ingredients meant to evoke Greece: grass, berries, peppermint, and charcoal. Each drink evokes a season on the shores of the Aegean and comes with a hand-drawn illustration featuring a scratch-and-sniff element, designed to deepen the sensory experience.

The Grass cocktail pays tribute to spring and to sun-drenched gardens after the rain, with an Old Fashioned-inspired mix of vodka, cucumber, fresh grass distillate, and mezcal. 

Berry captures summer in a glass in an indulgent take inspired by mastiha ice cream (mastic, a resin harvested from trees found only on the island of Chios, editor's note) and the classic Clover Club. 

Peppermint, meanwhile, evokes autumn evenings through a refreshing combination of mint distillate, cola reduction, and bitters, somewhere between a Mojito and a Cuba Libre.

Finally, Charcoal evokes winter and fireside evenings with a smoky, Martini-style mix of agave spirits, smoked bitters, raspberry, and charred rosewood.

A thoughtful touch: all four cocktails are also offered in non-alcoholic versions.

Classic cocktails, reimagined the Avra way

The second chapter, Avra Aperitivos, reimagines classic Italian aperitivos with Greek ingredients, drawing on the work of the bar’s in-house lab, the Avra Lab.

Highlights include The Spritz, which combines Aperol with a fermented rhubarb solution; the Campari Old Fashioned, where raspberry adds freshness and a bitter edge; and the Sgroppino, an icy mix of lemon and vodka.

The third chapter, Avra Favourites, pays tribute to the signature cocktails that helped build the reputation of Avra , as well as to the expertise of Nikos Tachmazis. Standouts include the Paper Plane, made with bourbon infused with Greek mountain tea, and the Dirty Martini , which combines Assyrtiko wine (a white grape variety native to the island of Santorini, editor's note) with vodka infused with Greek olive oil and is finished with local olive oil.

The menu concludes with a final refreshing chapter: Avra Highballs. It highlights the richness of local fruits and herbs in five light, sparkling creations. New for 2026, Blossom pairs fresh peach with alyssum blossoms. The Mint cocktail, meanwhile, is made with mint-infused aged rum, aromatic bitters, and a touch of Champagne.

Our philosophy is rooted in refinement without unnecessary complexity. At the Avra Lab, we pay close attention to every detail - temperature, dilution, and balance - so that when a cocktail reaches the guest, it feels effortless and approachable. With this new menu, we’re exploring seasonal Greek ingredients we especially love working with in the lab - from citrus and olive oil to aromatic herbs and mastiha - and expressing them in a way that feels both modern and playful. - Nikos Tachmazis

Flavors shaped by Mediterranean culture

Avra’s new menu also draws on a nuanced understanding of local preferences. Asked what Greek drinkers tend to gravitate toward, Nikos Tachmazis explains:

The Greek palate is fairly balanced, but it tends to favor freshness, acidity, and aromatic profiles over pronounced bitterness. There’s also a strong preference for sweeter flavors, shaped in part by traditional desserts and Mediterranean ingredients such as honey, citrus, and aromatic herbs. That preference is deeply rooted in Greek food culture, where flavors are bold, seasonal, and closely tied to natural ingredients.

This approach is evident not only throughout the new menu, where Mediterranean ingredients take center stage, but across the broader operation as well. In fact, the innovations developed in the Avra Lab inform the beverage program throughout the Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens. Under the supervision of Nikos Tachmazis, Christos Kalogeropoulos and Petros Pattis develop more than 70 drink recipes for the hotel’s various venues and private events. Guests can also get a behind-the-scenes look at this creativity through the Garden to Bottle workshop, which invites them to gather ingredients from the hotel’s garden before creating their own bottled cocktail using the lab’s techniques.

A Greek cocktail scene that has truly come of age

This new menu is part of the momentum currently driving Greece’s cocktail scene, as seen in the success of events like the Athens Bar Show.

Today, Greece’s bar scene is vibrant and internationally recognized. Athens, in particular, has become a must-visit destination for cocktail culture, thanks to its remarkable mix of creativity, hospitality, and a strong sense of identity. There’s a real emphasis on storytelling, local ingredients, and top-level technique, while the service remains warm, friendly, and approachable. - Nikos Tachmazis

This evolution has accelerated over the past fifteen years: The cocktail scene has grown significantly over the past 10-15 years. Even though there were already some great bars, the real turning point came with places like The Clumsies and Baba au Rum, which helped raise standards and spark international interest in Athens. Before that, our scene was more traditional and less experimental, explains Nikos.

London’s influence on Nikos Tachmazis’s career

Before taking the helm of Avra’s cocktail program, Nikos Tachmazis worked in London, an experience that still shapes his approach to hospitality and cocktail craft today at Avra, the bar at the Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens.

“My experience in London was pivotal,” Nikos says. “Beyond technique and professional discipline, what really shaped me was the multicultural environment. You meet people from all over the world there, each with their own expectations and their own idea of hospitality. It teaches you to tailor your service to each guest by understanding cultural nuances and individual preferences.”

One simple example from that period: we often used to assign a guest to a team member who spoke the same language, so that they would feel more comfortable and at home. This naturally helped us better understand guests’ needs and anticipate those needs more intuitively.

To me, London is still the bar industry’s ultimate creative laboratory. It’s where trends are born and where talented people are constantly growing and pushing boundaries. Bringing that experience back to Greece means adapting those techniques and ideas to local ingredients and culture in order to create something both refined and authentic.

With this new menu, Avra continues its mission of pushing Athens’s cocktail culture forward, bringing together Mediterranean identity, creativity, and sensory experimentation.

2026 Menu