English Sambuca NV
42% abv 
Essex, England
From the UK’s only sambuca distillers comes the rarest and most surprising of tipples: an utterly gorgeous sambuca that tastes really nice. You can sip it without setting fire to it, or worse. Forget your past encounters with sambuca and reset your view of aniseed with a glorious glass of scratch distilled English Sambuca.
 
 
Production
Master distiller, Dr.John Walters starts by distilling, from scratch, an elderberry eau de vie in a copper pot still. This is a smooth base spirit with exactly the right profile we need before moving onto the next step: co-distilling with star anise. With no need to mask a fiery base spirit, they add just the right amount of star anise into the still: which means extracting all the flavours, without going so far as to leech out the undesirable bits like tannins and bitter oils. To top it off, John gives a nod to traditional sambuca by adding a touch of English sugar: not so much to make it sticky and oversweet, but just enough to enhance the intrinsic flavours and bolster the luscious mouthfeel. And there you have it: a handcrafted English Sambuca that will revolutionise the way you think about aniseed.
Tasting notes
Lush, fragrant layers of mouthwatering aniseed from start to finish. A silky, smooth mouthfeel with no harshness or burn: a world away from the fiery, sticky sambucas usually found on the back bar.
Food match
The Perfect Serve - Simply chilled in a cold glass after dinner as a digestif or serve in a tumbler, over ice, as the melting ice dilutes the drink and results in the lovely pearlescent haze.