Aniseed and Other Flavoured Spirits Flashcards
Aniseed-flavoured drinks: History.
- If juniper is the preferred flavoring for north-west Europe, then the aroma that links the countries of the Mediterranean is the pungent, sweet, rooty, liquorice-like aroma of anise.
- Anise has a long history: first used by the Byzantine empire in what is now Turkey. But its most famous incarnation in alcoholic beverage was in the form of absinthe (very popular in 19th century). One of its particular ingredient, wormwood, was linked to disease and moral decay, and its notoriety resulted in absinthe being banned across all Europe by the early 20th century.
- But anise drinks persisted and pastis filled the gap left by the demise of absinthe. Today anise drinks remains popular in its Mediterranean heartlands and absinthe has made a modest return.
Aniseed-flavoured drinks: Production.
- Made using complex recipes of botanicals but all use a range of plants with a flavour compound known as «anethole». It gives these drinks their unique character. Most used plants having anethole: star anise, anise and fennel. Anethole also gives an other common feature: when added with water, the drink goes cloudy, phenomenon known as «louching».
- Anethole dissolves easily in ethanol but not especially soluble in water. As the spirit is diluted, the anethole comes out of solution and forms an opaque solution. These drinks are intended to be drunk diluted and the louching is part and parcel of their service and consumption.
- Anise-based drinks production is more involved than distilled gin as producers use a range of techniques to extract flavor from the botanicals, creating a number of flavored spirits that are blended together to create the final product.
- Some of these spirits are then colored or remain clear. Even the bet producers are known to use artificial coloring. Color extracted from plant material can be unstable, with color variation in store which most consumers would find unacceptable.
Absinthe: Introduction.
• Takes its name for the key ingredient that makes it unique: grand wormwood (Artemisia absinthium).
• Star anise and Mediterranean anise and fennel supply the dominant aniseed flavours.
Wormwood adds a musky floral note and contribute to a bitter quality to the flavour.
• No legal definition of absinthe but thujone levels are controlled. Thus absinthes are not required to have any particular flavor. However all agree that without wormwood, its not real absinthe.
Absinthe: Production.
• Classic absinthe prod has not very changed since the 19th century:
1) Main botanicals are macerated in high strength alcohol (originally wine-based; others use highly rectified spirit) for 24 hours.
2) The flavored spirit is then diluted, redistilled with botanicals, and a spirit of around 80% abv is collected.
3) The green color is provided by petite wormwood, hyssop and/or Melissa, the coloring being extracted by a short period of maceration. Not all traditional absinthes were green; some were bottled clear and some producers maintain this tradition today. As with gin, botanical recipe vary.
• Many of the new wave of absinthes are made by adding extracts to alcohol and traded on the sordid story of the product. One way of telling whether it is a classic or an imitation is whether it louches when water is added.
Absinthe: about Thujone.
- In 19th century, excessive consumption of absinthe was linked to a condition called «absinthism» in which patients were said to suffer from many things. Contemporary research pointed to a terpene in wormwood, thujone, as being the cause of this phenomenon.
- Researchs found that thujone levels of 19th century absinthes were no higher than they are today: levels that are completely harmless. It is now considered that «absinthism» as described in the 19th century ever existed as a disorder separate from chronic alcoholism.
- Levels of thujone are highly controlled: in the USA thujone levels are restricted to 10ppm; in the EU, alcohol drinks made using the species Artemisia can have levels of thujone up to 35ppm.
Pernod and Pastis.
- The aniseed flavored drinks that emerged after the ban on absinthe were, and continue to be, based on star anise, anise, fennel and for Pastis liquorice root. Unlike classic absinthes (typically dry and served with sugar), these drinks were sweetened. This category is dominated by two key brands: Pernod and Ricard.
- Made in much the same way as absinthes, they are botanically flavored and colored spirits. As ever. The key lies in: quality of ingredients + balance of the recipe.
- Only four natural ingredients make up Ricard:
- Both Chinese star anise and fennel are distilled to produce an anethole essence. Due to the richness of the essence, only a small amount is needed.
- Liquorice from the Middle East is crushed, dried and placed in a pressurized percolator. Alcohol and purified water (at 42% abv) is passed through the liquorice three times to extract flavor and aromas.
- Aromatic herbs from Provence like thyme, rosemary, laurel and savory undergo same process.
- Once all the flavored liquids are obtained, they’re blended together with neutral alcohol and sugar (less than 100g/L). Ricard obtains its color in part from the liquorice and also addition of caramel.
Other aniseed drinks.
1) OUZO
• The Greek equivalent of Pastis. Large number of styles and prod methods but the classic examples use highly rectified spirit, which is then redistilled with anise and optionally other botanicals and mastic.
• Other examples simply blend anethole with highly rectified spirit.
2) RAKI
• Comes from Turkey. Based on a raisin/grape spirit called suma, distilled to a max of 94.5% abv. It is not a highly rectified spirit and unlike other flavored spirits, Raki producers consider that suma has an important role to play in the flavor of Raki.
• The suma (or suma mixed with highly rectified spirit) is diluted with water, redistilled with aniseed and the spirit is collected at around 79-80% abv.
• The flavored distillate is diluted and sweetened and rested for a min of 30 days prior to sale to allow the flavors to harmonize.
