the library

Anise spirit

Spirits & brews· spirit

What it is

Anise spirit names a family of spirits distilled or steeped with anise or star anise seed, including pastis, ouzo, raki and sambuca.

What it tastes like

On the nose: anise, whiskey, dry. Among its measured molecules: 2-butanol, 1,1-diethoxyethane, estragole, anethol, 1-butanol.

Every one of its 12 compounds carries a paper the library can cite.

• acetaldehydearomaaldehydereads as pungent, fruity (PubChem)Measured in 18 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 2.79 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, range 1.41 to 9.21, standard error 0.05 — a spread in which the maximum is more than three times the mean, the most skewed distribution in the table — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row 'Acetaldehyde (g/hL PA)', LRI 500)
• 1-butanolaromaalcoholreads as dry, burning taste (PubChem)Measured in 13 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 0.48 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, range 0.00 to 1.75, standard error 0.02 — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row '1-butanol (g/hL PA)', LRI 1130)
• 1-propanolaromaalcoholreads as burning taste (PubChem)Measured in 23 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 36.05 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, range 19.10 to 60.45, standard error 0.35 — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row '1-propanol (g/hL PA)', LRI 1047)
• isobutanolaromaalcoholreads as sweet, musty (PubChem)Measured in 24 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 37.61 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, range 20.44 to 88.28, standard error 0.49 — the largest of the higher alcohols by mean, and the widest range of any compound in the table relative to its mean — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row '2-methyl-1-propanol (g/hL PA)', LRI 1074)
• 2-butanolaromaalcoholreads as sweet (PubChem)Measured in 4 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 0.69 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, not detected in at least one sample and up to 4.72 in another, standard error 0.04 — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row '2-butanol (g/hL PA)', LRI 1019)
• 1,1-diethoxyethanearomaetherreads as whiskey taste (PubChem)Measured in 8 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 0.07 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, not detected in at least one and up to 1.34 in another, standard error 0.01 — the smallest measured congener in the table. The paper writes only 'Acetal'; in a spirit at this retention index that is 1,1-diethoxyethane, but the paper does not say so and the name is left as printed rather than resolved by inference. — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row 'Acetal (g/hL PA)', LRI 910)
• 2-methyl-1-butanolaromaalcoholMeasured in 15 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 13.79 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, range 3.26 to 24.28, standard error 0.21 — about 37% of the 3-methyl isomer's mean, the two reported as separate rows sharing a retention index — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row '2-methyl-1-butanol (g/hL PA)', LRI 1204)
• estragolearomaetherreads as sweet taste reminiscent of anise (differing from anethole) (PubChem)Measured in 10 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 35.18 mg/L across the same 37 samples, range 19.54 to 58.56, standard error 0.27 — about one thirty-ninth of the trans-anethole mean measured in the same table. The two aniseed phenylpropanoids together are the only compounds in the table the paper attributes to the botanical rather than to the base distillate. — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Aniseed-based volatiles' block, row 'Estragole (mg/L)', LRI 1690)
• ethyl acetatearomaesterreads as fragrant (PubChem)Measured in 43 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 13.97 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, range 5.68 to 24.69, standard error 0.19 — the only ester the paper quantifies, and the largest non-alcohol suma-derived congener after methanol — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row 'Ethyl acetate (g/hL PA)', LRI 898)
• isoamyl alcoholaromaalcoholMeasured in 46 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 37.10 g/hL pure alcohol across 37 samples, range 6.48 to 73.19, standard error 0.61. The paper reports it and 2-methyl-1-butanol as separate rows at the same retention index of 1204, so the two amyl alcohols are resolved here rather than summed — which is the opposite of the co-elution the bourbon and rye profiles had to carry. — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2, 'Suma-based volatiles' block, row '3-methyl-1-butanol (g/hL PA)', LRI 1204)
• anetholaromaetherreads as sweet taste (PubChem)Measured in 11 of 341 ingredients.cite

  mean 1370.4 mg/L across 37 commercial rakı samples, range 1010.0 to 2060.0, standard error 0.01; identified against a reference compound as well as by mass spectrum and retention index. It is the largest measured constituent of the drink apart from ethanol and water, and the compound the aniseed contributes. — Darıcı et al. 2021, Foods (Table 2 (Major volatiles in Rakı samples), 'Aniseed-based volatiles' block, row 'Trans-Anethole (mg/L)', LRI 1823 on a DB-WAX column)