The Polykala distillery began its history in Lixouri, island of Kefalonia, at the end of the nineteenth century. Vassilis Polykalas, vintner at the time, started collecting recipes of liqueurs from all the places he visited around Greece. By studying the ingredients, he found ways to make the recipes even better, and he wrote down his changes in his secret recipe books. His restless spirit and his passion for discovery and creation led him to the founding of the distillery Polykalas in Lixouri, in 1897. His products quickly became known for their superb quality, and the distillery acquired an important clientele, a fact that led him to take the business to Athens. The reputation of the products of the good-hearted Kefalonian rapidly spread, turning his store into a meeting point, even for well-known people of the political and social world of the times, who gathered in the distillery to drink a liquor or wine directly from the barrels, and to discuss the problems of Greece.

The modern era finds the Polykalas distillery in the area of Botanikos, in Athens. Rena Polykala, fourth generation of distillers, along with her father Giorgos Polykalas, goes on producing alcoholic drinks with a huge enthusiasm and passion, for a customer network that now covers all Greece. The secret recipes of liqueurs of the great grandfather V. Polykalas are used with the same dedication and they are baptized "1897 Polykalas Collection", they are combined with the modern times, the flavours evolve and take off, the packages are replaced with new luxurious bottles, new products and proposals appear and the name Polykalas has become synonym with quality and good taste.