The spirit of
relaxation
Anisette, the
sweet, candy-flavored drink, encourages us to pull up a chair and
chat the afternoon away.
By CHRIS SHERMAN,
Times Food Critic
Published July 26, 2006
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[Times photo: Bob Croslin] |
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Good and plenty
Under many
names in many countries, anisette starts out with distilled
spirits, preferably a brandy made from grapes, raisins or pomace.
It can also be made from alcohol produced from sugar cane, sugar
beets, figs or other fruit.
OUZO, METAXA, GREECE (40 PERCENT ALCOHOL, $17).
Neat, it's crystal
clear with a hot nose, blazing taste and slippery
texture, but it fades sweetly. Mixed with water, the
heat melts to tastes of anise and zests of citrus.
Mixed two to one, it's a stout cloud; four to one
makes a ghostly gray color with a thin, fruitier
taste. Long, broad finish. Devilishly mild.
PASTIS, RICARD (45 PERCENT, $28).
Outside Paris, the
drink is Ricard, not Pernod (although the companies
merged), Pastis 51 and others. Ricard has a clear,
pale-gold color like a fine young scotch and an
aroma of licorice and a spilled spice cabinet.
Straight, it sets the tongue ablaze, mixed at four
to one it is the color of grapefruit juice and
tastes of anise with a hint of cinnamon. I'll have
another.
RAKI, EFE, IZMIR TURKEY (45 PERCENT, $22).
After the government
gave up the raki monopoly, Efe was the first private
firm to distill and elevate raki with all-grape
spirits from Turkish wine country. Surprisingly easy
and light straight, with a mild sparkle and fun
finish. Diluted at two to one, it has a slight kick.
Milky color and a broad anise flavor. Builds strong
lions.
SAMBUCA, ROMANA (42 PERCENT, $24).
Cordially sweet and
thickly slick in texture, sambuca's the most
appealing to try straight or with the traditional
three coffee beans. (New black sambuca is spiked
with witch elder.) The aroma is restrained,
licorice, oily, a few nuts; add water and it clouds
up into a rounder, even friendlier drink. Too sweet
and easy.
ARAK, CHAT KEFRAYA,
BEKAA VALLEY, LEBANON ($25).
A rich, round aroma of
anise in the nose and, with water, a cottony cloud
in the glass. Smooth, broad, sweet taste with a
long, tingling finish. Arak of ages.
If you like this Also try:
Arak Razzouk
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What is it that makes
anisette a perfect summer drink?
Not its color: It
starts crystal clear, and quickly turns into sandstorm or dense fog and
remains endlessly cloudy. Nor is it bracingly cold and invigorating. It
is usually served just barely chilled, with rarely more than two or
three modest ice cubes.
No, the appeal is that
anisettes are distilled idleness: our laziest, most sociable spirits in
a bottle.
There is no more
potent alcohol that is so easygoing. Taste it straight and you and the
bottle breathe fire. Add water and the glass drifts into a cloud, so
seemingly soft and friendly it begs to be drunk before lunch, and
sometimes long after in one of the slowest rites of summer.
All around the
Mediterranean, from the Riviera to the once-happy corniche of Beirut,
summer idlers would spend long hours around small tables filled with
tiny glasses, big talk and bigger dreams. Call it
ouzo in
Greece,
raki
in Turkey, arak in Lebanon, oghi in Armenia, anis in northern Spain or
pastis in France. The infusion of anise and licorice into strong alcohol
gives an adult drink the candy flavor of a childhood pleasure.
Banish the
prohibitionist woodcuts of the 18th century absinthe drinker paralyzed
by the devilishly green liquor. That was the wormwood, which even the
Gauls banned.
But don't forget that
warning altogether, for anisettes remain the most deceptive of liquors.
If you hate licorice, you might escape the temptation.
Despite its fuzzy
sweetness, fans of ouzo,
raki and its cousins never pretend that it's
weak. They take pride in its power, although by the sixth or seventh,
they might forget. The next morning a velvet hammer may tattoo a
reminder on the brain. Or not.
In Provence, remembers
Dominic Christini of Cafe Largo, "I was born and raised with it. Where I
come from we drink it by the meter," although they start small.
"Before lunch you go
in and have one and meet your friends. Five or six, you can have a lot
of friends," he says, chuckling.
In Turkey, men call
raki "lion's milk," and drinking it is something of a national ritual.
Not everyone likes the stuff.
"My wife doesn't like
it," laughs Dr. Sami Solu, a retired physician in Clearwater Beach, "and
she doesn't like me when I drink it."
Greek bars and clubs
make Tarpon Springs the
ouzo capital of the Tampa Bay area. At B-21
liquor store in Tarpon, Bob Sprentall keeps the area's largest stock -
11 labels, of which Ouzo 12
is the top, plus a full range of other anisettes - and sells 150 cases a
year.
Former Tarpon Mayor
Anita Protos is a big fan of Greek food but approaches
ouzo with
caution. "Take a drink of that stuff and light a cigarette, you could
explode."
Yet purists take their
anisette slow, small, simple and diluted, even if the drinking can last
hours.
Bartenders have had
fun with anisette: Galliano puts extra punch in Harvey Wallbangers, and
ouzo makes the special effects in a Purple Cloud.
Ouzo and its cloudy
ilk are not booming as the next tequila, vodka or rum, but many more are
available through increased trade. The new Efe premium brand of
raki has
just been imported into Florida.
The traditional format
for almost every anisette is a small glass, often tubular, with a short
pour of booze and a small pitcher, often branded with a distillery logo,
of plain, pure springwater for a much longer pour. The ratio is at least
twice as much water to anisette, sometimes five times as much.
Always there is food,
more savory than sweet. With pastis it will be the dry salami called
saucisson and perhaps cheese. With
ouzo the Greeks might nibble on
bread, olives, feta, stuffed grape leaves.
Arak and
raki are always
taken with a meze of odd bits, grape leaves, falafel, nuts, kibbe; white
cheese and melons are special favorites in Turkey.
Everywhere, indoors
and especially outdoors, pastis,
ouzo and
raki are served with friends
and conversation.
"With
raki," Solu
remembers fondly, "they drink a little, eat a little, drink a little,
eat a little and talk very much."
Chris Sherman can be
reached at 727 893-8585 or
sherman@sptimes.com.