Sambuca, Ouzo, Galliano, etc.

[kinsmajp]

Let's get this straight. I have to finish off the home bar-stock and I need the small ingredients that go in some c***tails, martinis, and cosmos and I desperately need some clarification. I'm going to buy this stuff tonight and I need to know if "sambuca" is sambuca and there is no difference or there is certain stuff I have to buy. I don't go cheap and I don't skimp on things the first time, only later to find out that I wish I had gone better. So in regards to the three ingredients in the title, does it matter what I get? Are they all going to go well in a c***tail or will an experienced adult be able to tell that I skimped on the Galliano in their Harvey Wallbanger??!?!

Thank you much!~

[Evinissent Cum Guinness]

Alright, Sambuca, Galliano, Anisette, and Absinthe are your basic star anise based liqueurs. Which means, they won't be too popular in your part of the United States. There just isn't the taste for that outside paisano communities.

Sambuca and Anisette tend to be the most anise heavy, and they can be used in plenty of c***tails - sambuca comes mainly in a clear form, and in such a case is called white sambuca. There are other iterations, and these are -usually- color coded by what the liquorish taste is going to be. White for anise, black for black liquorish, red for red..

The traditional way of drinking sambuca in Sicily is to throw it over some rocks to louch, but don't add water like you would with absinthe. Stir it up until it's cloudy, and drop a few coffee beans on top. You can also do this, and then pour the whole thing sans ice over a coffee in place of grappa or anisette as a coffee corrector if you like your coffee boozy.

Anisette and grappa are used in the same way, and each has a few applicable c***tails, but Galliano (generic forms are usually called something like an "italiano" liqueur, but it's basically a brand name drink like Campari)is the most prominent because of the Harvey, which is a classic c***tail. Make a screwdriver with very well filtered vodka, add the galliano, and you've got a Harvey. It goes wonderfully with citrus, and fits the American pallet because of it's light anise content, so you can really be creative with it - much like a sweeter absinthe. Absinthe is also a great c***tail drink because of it's high proof-to-flavor ratio, and you can make stuff like the '20s era monkey gland (named after an experimental potency operation for man that involved transplanting monkey glands into the scrotum), etc.

For the rest, excluding ouzo, they're made more for aperitifs and more recently shooters than c***tails, they're made to be enjoyed straight up because of their sweetness, or in coffee, etc. But c***tails do exist. For what it's worth as a sicilian, I drink Sambuca di Amore and Sambuca Oro Borghetti on a fairly regular basis as a sort of desert drink - I've tried some recommended c***tails, the best probably consisting of two parts sambuca to four parts each orange juice and lemonaide - a morning drink. Still, it's better on the rocks in an aperitif glass or in coffee.

Ouzo I don't know s*** about, because I'm not a disgusting greek.