Episode 169: Anise Spirits & a Nice (Wine!) Surprise
This spirited discussion focuses on the flavoring, characteristics, and botanical foundations of anise or licorice-based spirits. What’s fascinating is the variety of plants, seeds, roots and fruits that make up these beverages, as well as the lore, culture and traditions behind them. We also share some hot news for our wine lovers to take the summer quarter of the podcast to the next level for listeners and supporters!
The Green Stuff in our Glasses (1:25)
Val:
Jade Esprit Edouard Absinthe
This is made with Spanish green anise from Andalusia and fennel. It’s one of our favorites, and is a classic style that has historic connections to the 19th century formula, pre-ban, which we’ll talk about later. In fact this one was reverse engineered from some antique bottles that were still sealed.
Steph:
Hedgehog in the Fog – Pastis-and-mint-based fizz courtesy of KindredCocktails.com
Fennel? Anise? Licorice? Star Anise? Let’s not call the whole thing off (4:35)
Everyone has heard of at least one of the licorice flavored spirits we’re going to talk about. Plus, we’ve dabbled in some factoids about absinthe in the past. This time we wanted to cover the spirit category as a whole and illuminate a few more bits of drinking trivia.
What did you call me?
No, we said “anethole!”
The one thing most of these spirits have in common is anethole, a molecule responsible for the licorice-flavor.
This is where we get geeky for a hot minute.
Louche what?
Have you ever seen the milky white cloud form in a glass of absinthe (or Ouzo, Pernod, etc.) when cold water is added? That cloud is called the louche. What’s happening there is the anethole, which hates water (aka hydrophobic), is breaking out of solution. Now the drink appears opaque. It will stay uniformly cloudy because the anethole, although separating, resists clumping together due to its low interfacial tension.
Anise vs star anise vs licorice
Anethole can be found in several different, unrelated plants. Which is another reason why this is a worthy topic.
Anise (6:25)
Anise, pronounced “a-niece” or “ann-iss” depending on who you’re talking to, is an herb related to the carrot family. Its scientific name is Pimpinella anisum.
The anise plant looks similar to fennel and parsley. High levels of anethole are contained in the plant’s tiny fruits called aniseed.
Dating back to at least 1500 B.C., anise has been used as a digestive aid. In India and Asia, aniseed is also used for flavor in cooking and chewed on after dinner to sweeten the breath. Kinda like a breath mint.
Star Anise (7:32)
Star anise, Illicium verum, is the fruit of a small Chinese evergreen tree. Go figure. The anethole in these buggers is in the oil that’s concentrated in the star-shaped shell. You may have cooked with these before.
Licorice (8:10)
Then there’s licorice, Glycyrrhiza glabra. We try to say these scientific names just to embarrass ourselves – even more.
Licorice is a perennial bean plant, and the anethole is contained in the root, along with the rest of the flavorings.
Fennel et al.
Other plants containing anethole that are used to flavor absinthe, pastis and liqueurs are fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) and sweet cicely (myrrh, or Myrrhis odorata).
Countries and Cultures (9:00)
There’s a world of licorice-flavored booze and we are going to highlight the biggies.
Pastis
In France, people enjoy pastis (aromatic anise-flavored liqueurs) at afternoon cafés and use cool mineral water, usually without ice, to dilute the spirit according to their personal pleasure. It is also in France where the famous brand Pernod was created back in 1805 by Henry-Louis Pernod. Now it’s Pernod Ricard, and pastis lovers will recognize the Ricard Pastis.
Also of note, Pernod has a secret recipe (no surprise there), but we do know that it is made with star anise, along with the other plants and herbs.
Anisone, Anisette, Sambuca
In Italy, people toast with Anisone, Anisette, or Sambuca, and often elevate the joyous tipple with three coffee beans. Three? Yes three. They symbolize Health, Happiness, and Prosperity.
Absinthe (12:30)
While the spirit gets its name from the main ingredient, A
rtemisia absinthium, or grand wormwood, the licorice flavor comes from green anise, and fennel, but some use star anise. The best green anise comes from the Mediterranean, specifically Spain.
The botanicals are macerated for about a day in the base spirit. Some absinthes, called vert (green) have a green color that comes from petite wormwood, melissa, or hyssop.
But beware of imposters. If there’s no louching when water’s added, it’s not the real thing or “classic.” You may also see Liqueur d’Absinthe, which is actually sweeter and sipped neat or with ice, but minus the wormwood.
You may have also heard that thujone, a terpene that is found in wormwood – and sage, by the way – causes hallucinations. Nope. There are some health concerns, but at very high levels. Plus there are limits to the levels of thujone that can be in absinthe. In the US it’s 10 ppm, and in the UK and rest of Europe it’s 35 ppm.
Finally, the US was one of last countries to lift the ban, originally levied in the early 20th century, on 5 March 2007. March 5th is also celebrated as “National Abisnthe Day.”
We did give some lore behind the beverage, myths, and proper service here at about four minutes in Episode 29: Boos and Booze: Spooky Wine & Spirits Stories from Oct 29, 2015.
(From Val: what’s really spooky is this was pre- “compress your darned audio” awareness.)
Ouzo (16:15)
“Opa!” Remember the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? Ouzo is the anise-flavored drink in Greece and Cyprus. Smash some plates and light your ouzo on fire!
Or not. We do not recommend that. Just to be clear.
From our resident Pharm D, Steph: According to the back label, Metaxa Ouzo is made with anise, mastic (a close relative to the pistachio) and badiane (a synonym for star anise). I think the Metaxa Ouzo smells clean and medicinal. A delightful digestivo.
Raki et al. (17:40)
Then there’s Raki, Turkey and the Balkan States’ local anise-liqueur.
The traditional Lebanese spirit is called Arak.
It is also popular in other middle eastern countries, but the base spirits are not all the same. Surprisingly, it isn’t as hard to find as you might suspect. Look for it in your local liquor store next to the absinthe.
And yet there are still others we haven’t mentioned – Herbsaint from New Orleans, Jagermeister from Germany, Chinchon from Spain and more.
How to enjoy (18:52)
1:4 parts spirit and water, or straight.
Sambuca with three whole coffee beans in it is delicious! Yum!
Absinthe can also be mixed into famous cocktails like the Sazerac, Death in the Afternoon or the Corpse Reviver #2 cocktail.
Steph does a fair amount of research too when it comes to experimenting with spirits. First, see what ingredients you have on hand – citrus, fruit juice, club soda, mixers, other spirits, bitters, etc. – then start googling to find a recipe you can make at home with your inventory and your bottle of licorice/anise-flavored spirit.
Val likes Bar None Drinks because you can do what Steph just said: start with your desired ingredient and go from there.
Resources: More information and education (20:00)
Stewart, A. (2013). The Drunken Botanist: The plants that create the world’s great drinks. Algonquin: Chapel Hills, NC
Society of Wine Educators: Certified Specialist of Spirits Program and SWEbinars
Wine & Spirits Education Trust: Levels 1 & 2 Awards in Spirits
Wino Radar (21:00)
We’re so excited to hear that some of you will be joining us at “wine camp” this year! Listeners attending the 2018 SWE conference in the NY Finger Lakes, we are having a W25 “Meet & Greet” on Wednesday August 15th at the Woodcliff hotel bar called Horizons Lounge starting at 4:30pm.
If you’re not attending the conference, but live nearby, you are welcome to join us too!
We also plan to take some group photos at the Gala on Friday night. This happened last year…
It’s Official! (22:22)
We have an new partnership to tell share with you guys, and it’s been so hard to keep quiet about this until it was official. So it’s official.
WTSO, which stands for Wines ‘Til Sold Out, is now a show sponsor! We are excited about this because we are very protective of our show content, and not inundating you guys with ads that have nothing to do with wine. In fact, we’ve been quite adamant about not selling out to things we’re not sure you’ll love.
We only want to partner with businesses and brands that are in line with our philosophy and benefit our listeners.
Here’s why we love them.
First, you get the best online price because WTSO will price match any bottles they have. We mentioned the great customer service and how easy they are to use. This service is also perfect for large orders of wines you love (as Steph found out with her Sagrantino di Montefalco), or building out/expanding collections with access to age worthy wines.
Go to the special page for Wine Two Five listeners www.weeklytasting.com/W25 where you can sign up and have an account with both WTSO and Weekly Tasting.
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Patreon Love (24:49)
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Connect: (26:16)
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