It's one of those recipes where the people who drank bought Ouzo can't get the thought of the home made stuff out of their head and will leave a shop bought bottle on the table to drink your version.
It really is that good. ;)
From Apsynt
I have been doing this one for a while now and it's been rather popular. I cook mine in small batches on the stove.
A very unscientific recipe i use is
2.5L of neutral at about 45%
2 fistfuls of star anise
1 stick cinnamon
3 cracked cardamom pods
pinch of white and black pepper
2 sprigs of fresh fennel
half a nutmeg, cracked
4 cloves
I don't bother with suspending it in a basket as one does when making gin, just put all the ingredients together and distill. Generally i remove about 100ml of heads and stop collecting as soon as the output becomes cloudy.
Depending on how strong your anise it, you can dilute it to about 45% before it starts going cloudy. for a more attractive color add little bit of caramelized sugar.
I have done probably 30 litres of this over the last few years, and it makes a wonderful drink straight or with coke.
I think i have my recipe for this pretty much tied down now.
i charged with 8 litres of 40% neutral, 3 litres of Ouzo feints, 2 litres of cheap dry cask white wine and 4 times apsynt's spice mix.
The wine lends it an authentic tasting base, and the feints are bringing complexity.
Please use the Pastis/Arak/Ouzo discussion thread in the Recipe Development section if you would like to know more about this recipe. It can be found
HERE