Just one sip of this cinnamon clove-infused Greek liqueur and Glen Shilland was won over. But he wasn’t just enjoying Zamoura; he was immediately envisioning an import business so others in the U.S. could enjoy it too.
Produced in Patras, Greece, since 1895, Zamoura is made with a secret family recipe and all-natural ingredients.
“It just tastes delicious,” said Glen, a U.S. Air Force veteran-turned-KC-based importer. “Smooth, like nothing I had ever tasted before. Or since.”
The brand is now featured in a number of retail shops including Gomer’s Fine Wine and Spirits and Cellar Rat Wine Merchants, as well as such eateries as Prima Facie Bistro in Parkville, Pierpont’s at Union Station downtown, and Tasso’s Greek Restaurant in Waldo.
Yiotula and Glen Shilland, GKC Imports, Zamoura; photo by Joyce Smith
But getting Zamoura on store shelves in Kansas City and beyond has been a 25-year “wild, arduous road” for Glen and his wife, Yiotula; one of fated family friendships and several men named George.
The Zamoura-Kansas City connection dates to the 1960s.
George Konstantinos Chiligiris (Yiotula’s father), and Alexis Stathopoulos bonded while serving in the Greek Marines.
Alexis then returned to his hometown of Patras to help run his family’s business, CHRIS Distilleries, makers of Zamoura and other liqueurs.
George, originally from Nemea, soon moved to the U.S., first working for his uncle’s bar, The Lincoln Square Lounge, in Decatur, Illinois, and later becoming co-owner with his cousin.
But on a trip back to Greece, he met up with Alexis over glasses of the Stathopoulos family’s flagship Zamoura.
The friends teamed up to bring it to the Illinois lounge. George’s cousin (another George) became an importer to sell it to other Decatur businesses — restaurants, liquor stores, bars — and in Chicago’s Greektown in the late 1980s.
Yiotula’s father thought up the tagline: “Zamoura you drink, Zamoura you like!”
But a decade later, with George’s health in decline and with other challenges, they shut down the import operation.
Yiotula, George’s only daughter, joined the U.S. Air Force Academy (where she was an award-winning swimmer). She met Glen in 2000 when they were stationed in Minot, North Dakota; she as an ICBM operator, and he as a B-52 navigator.
Her family still had a stash of Zamoura that they dusted off for family get-togethers. It was at one of those that Glen had his first taste.
After marrying more than two decades ago, Yiotula left the U.S. Air Force and focused on raising their two children.
Current and classically-branded bottles of Zamoura, reflecting generations of importers responsible for bringing the Greek liqueur to the United States; photo by Joyce Smith
Importing Zamoura was always the dream, but Glen’s Air Force career had them relocating every couple of years — across the U.S. and the world. His final assignment in Seoul, South Korea — as the air attache advising the U.S. ambassador — was during COVID, allowing him more time to plan for retirement.
The couple decided to settle in the Kansas City area to be near Yiotula’s brother and mother who now lived in the metro.
Yiotula’s brother, Konstantinos (Kosta) Chiligiris, a swimmer on the Greek National Team, had befriended Alexis Stathopoulos’ son, George, and they stayed in touch.
So when Kosta opened a PaPPo’s Pizzeria & Pub in Lee’s Summit with his fiancée, Casey Richards, he wanted to serve Zamoura at the bar, just like his father had at his bar.
He put Yiotula and Glen in touch with George, now co-owner of CHRIS Distillery.
Then with “some legal advice and a lot of Googling,” the Shillands figured out how to become importers.
They spent a couple of years getting the formula approved through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; getting federal, state, county, and city business and liquor licenses; and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau certificate of label approval (COLA) to make sure it is marketed in accordance with a broad range of statutory and compliance provisions.
As veterans, they were used to dealing with bureaucracies and they expected hurdles, but they said the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control was so “friendly, and knowledgeable.”
“It’s just good Midwestern hospitality,” Yiotula said.
They named it GKC Imports — for George Konstantinos Chiligiris, and Greece to KC.
Cathy Kouris, a local freelance designer, sketched out the label and did mockups to show how her sleek design — in Aegean Sea turquoise, white and gold — would pop on store shelves.
Yiotula’s Decatur childhood friend, Jeff Layton, owns a Kansas City warehouse and trucking company, Midwest International Logistics, and offered his international shipping connections and storage facilities.
After many 4 a.m. central time calls to Greece, and an increasing pile of paperwork at their Overland Park home office, the first Zamoura shipment arrived in May.
A bottle of Zamoura with current-day branding; photo by Joyce Smith
Their GKC Imports started distributing it in Missouri in June through Veritas Selections, and in Kansas through Handcrafted Wine & Spirits in December.
They paid a 10 percent tariff fee in May and have enough inventory for now.
“But there’s a huge uncertainty about what (the tariff) is going to be when it gets here,” Glen said. “It takes about two or three months to get here after ordering.”
The Shillands hope to distribute Zamoura across the U.S. one day, and possibly pass the business on to the next generation.
Their son, Konstantinos “Kosta” is 17 and plans to study business at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, and daughter Katarina, 20, is a junior at the Colorado School of Mines studying geological engineering.
Glen said many European towns have their special digestif liqueur, typically served after a meal to aid digestion.
The Zamoura website also offers related drink and food recipes — “add it to a citrusy cocktail, rescue your sad coffee from mediocrity or just pour it over a massive ice cube and sip like a philosopher who finally figured out what happiness is” — and it can be used in mulled wine, spiced pecan balls, and a red wine reduction meat glaze.
Glen was recently at Mike’s Wine and Spirits in Waldo for a Friday night tasting where he discussed these recipes and more (as well as the best tasting table placement).
“Getting in front of people is the most important thing because as soon as you taste it you love it,” he said.
Glen, who serves as CEO of GKC Imports, and Yiotula, CFO, are scheduled to be featured on “From Jasper’s Kitchen with Jasper Mirabile,” from 11 a.m. to noon Feb. 7 on 95.7FM and 710 AM.
Mirabile’s early Zamoura review: “I thought it was really good and I kind of like that style for the winter time. Great after dinner and to drink by the fireplace. A real digestivo.”
Startland News contributor Joyce Smith covered local restaurants and retail for nearly 40 years with The Kansas City Star. Click here to follow her on Bluesky, here for X (formerly Twitter), here for Facebook, here for Instagram, and by following #joyceinkc on Threads.
