Blue moon beyond borders

Leros is quiet and tranquil. The little seaside cafes are not crowded; there is a fresh breeze. It is nice to be away from Bodrum's maddening crowd and traffic, all so unbearable with late July's suffocating heat wave. A short walk down along the shore, I see a lot of signs of Yeni Rak?, with their new slogan "Unrush Your World," so perfectly placed with the laid back atmosphere of the relaxed Aegean island. We take seat at the far left end of the bay, at Bourtzi tavern. Bourtzi means "burç" in Turkish (a citadel bastion) and the chef, Mihalis Magkos, takes pride in his seafood. Then a man walks towards us to greet our group. He doesn't look like an islander (later I'll find about his origins); he looks like someone close, like a long lost relative. He comes directly to me and utters the words "Fork & Cork," then spells out my name, adding that he follows this column on the Internet. That is how I meet with Simos Karagiozoglou. 

Simos is the distributor of Mey rak? products in Greece; he is basically the man who tries to convince Greeks to give up ouzo in favor of rak?. Rak? sales have greatly increased in recent years, both due to the roaring number of Turkish tourists invading, especially the Dodecanese islands, but also as a result of a successful campaign of increasing its selling points and making agreements with the best of restaurants. At every restaurant we've visited in both Leros and Kos, the table cloths and napkins were carrying the logo of Yeni Rak?; they all stocked a whole range of Mey rak? products, including the prestige product Tekirda? No:10, in prices way more accessible than in Turkey. This is partly because of the relatively more humane taxes imposed on alcoholic drinks in Greece and greatly because of the merciful pricing of the...