I have already done an anise-drink review in the past, on my old blog, but it’s now gone. My original review was about sambuca, now my review will be about raki! I am not a huge fan of licorice, in fact, if I recall correctly, I hate black licorice.
Starting back with sambuca, it’s a strong anise-flavoured drink which you can definitely smell in the air once it has been poured. The drink is good on its own or with some cheese on the side. It’s generally not mixed, but adding ice can remove some of that strong anise taste.
Moving onto Raki, the unofficial national drink of Turkey, which is another anise-based drink. Unlike sambuca, it is made usually with grapes or figs, and distilled with anise-seed. Sambuca is distilled with anise-seed and generally mixed with a pure sugar based alcohol.
Raki does not have a lot of flaming recipes. A mix of blue bols and sambuca, lit up, is a very popular European flaming drink. However, Raki is a very popular drink mixed with water and served on the rocks. It is very important, as told to me by a cute Turkish girl, to drink it in a tall glass. I can understand the reasoning and the change of its taste. When drank from a tall glass with ice, the anise in the drink will crystallize with the ice and diminish the anises potency. Personally, I enjoy a glass of straight Raki with a piece of cheese on the side. I can do with either Cheddar or Mozzarella. Back in college, I took a shot of Raki in with my coffee at the local hookah bar. I remember doing this at least once a week. I cannot remember if it was Karim or Moey that introduced me to this lifestyle, but it was very relaxing and a great way to sit around with friends and shoot the shit. Or work on opsys. Smoking Apple flavoured tobacco while working on a buggy linux kernel…
Efe Raki – Fresh from Turkey Ottawa, Canada.
