Talk:Ouzo

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Template:WPMIX

Does anyone know why ouzo goes milky when you put water in it?

Answered! Have a nice day! --Spudtater 01:39, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Water turns ouzo cloudy, but Ouzo makes everything clear.

Robert Merlin Evenson/Church of Ouzo

bobevenson@yahoo.com

Cheers!

THIS ARTICLE SHOULD BE MERGED WITH ARAK, as it is essentially the same liquor.

Cheers, Project2501a! :)(a sound of two glasses colliding)... is there a Wikipedia non-alchololism policy somewhere around? --FlavrSavr 08:35, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes, there is: "Thou salt not edit while sober" Project2501a 00:31, 25 July 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Louching is the term when the terpenes in absinthe become milky white when cold water is mixed with it. This action is the same when cool water is added to ouzo. I do disagree with the article that ouzo could be a substitute for absinthe without the wormwood. A better substitution would be Pernod, which is from the original manufacturer of absinthe, and is truly absinthe without the wormwood (and yes, the louches also). - Dan, Miami Beach, swanny2070@earthlink.net

Church of Ouzo

i think it would be best if the Church of Ouzo entry were split off, and a disambiguation page generated. the two appear to be completely different things. Anastrophe 21:03, 4 December 2005 (UTC) _________________________________________________________[reply]

Not any more unrelated than the game Liar's poker and the book of the same name. RME

that's pretty much my point. they are only barely noteworthy to the main article. Anastrophe 21:04, 5 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I agree they are both footnotes in the sense of being related to but of lesser importance than the main article, but I feel such segues also provide some measure of article enhancement. RME

I agree with Delirium who deleted the stuff about the Church of Ouzo. The phrasing was POV anyway. If someone cares, they should start a new article and add a link in the "See Also" section here, IMO. Alex.g 11:11, 7 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

how much water?

This article should probably say what the water-to-ouzo ratio should be... —alxndr (t) 01:46, 30 January 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I thought it's as much or as little as you want it to be. As long as you keep the ratio constant, according to [1] (see final paragraph).

Ouzo 7, Ouzo 12

I've seen numbering of ouzos (here in Israel, where, I disclaim, everything tends to be messed up food-wise). I've assumed this is a reference to the amount of time aged; is it months? Years? Stupid branding? Cheers! --Mgreenbe 01:20, 8 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I believe that they're just brands.I think Ouzo 12 is actually named after the number of the barrel it was stored in when it's producer was just a small family distillery.Or maybe that was Ouzo 7, I'm not sure.--Jsone 21:01, 8 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Confirmed by the Google search I should have done in the beginning. I'll stick to arak (a steal at 18 shekels = US$4 per liter). Thanks! --Mgreenbe 21:28, 8 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

It's just a matter of taste, you can add as much as you want. I tend to drink it straight. --Peter

Liqueur/ Liquor

In the opening paragraph Ouzo is described as a Liqueur. In the article on absinthe, that spirit is described as a liquor because "does not contain added sugar". No mention is made of sugar being added to Ouzo. Is it not therefore a liquor? Also, is the reason "The history of ouzo is somewhat murky" because it has been watered down over the years? --Dashers 05:36, 20 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Similarities

I'd say ouzo is more similar to pastis, sambuca and arak than absinthe.

Well yes. Ouzo, pastis, and sambuca all have anise as the primary flavour, with other herbs added as complements. Absinthe's flavour results from the synergy between anise and wormwood, which is, to put it euphemistically, a right bit more challenging to the palate than anise by itself. Wormwoodpoppies 17:09, 27 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

ouzo....cocaine?????

A friend of mine came back from duty in the US Navy in 1968....He brought us a bottle of OUZO and told us that one of the ingredients was cocaine....was there any truth to this for a bottle produced in Greece in the 1960's??? Thanks ahead of time for any answers....216.230.184.65 16:44, 13 November 2006 (UTC)JOE216.230.184.65 16:44, 13 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Very unlikely, unless this was "special" ouzo he purchased from a home-distiller. Or there's a tiny chance it may have contained de-cocainised coca leaf. But by 1968 coke was banned or tightly cotrolled pretty much the world over, so it's more likely than not that this should be filed along with "LSD from Foster's beer" and "absinthe makes you trip ballllz, d00d" Wormwoodpoppies 17:05, 27 November 2006 (UTC).[reply]
Urban myth. The story I heard circulating in the 1980s was that Ouzo was made with opium or morphine. Never found any evidence this was true. Dragomiloff 02:21, 25 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Urban (or US Navy) myth. I've visited ouzo distilleries and seen the ingredients. Lots of anise seed. No cocaine. Andrew Dalby 10:12, 25 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Lesvos // Lesbos

There seems to be some debate as to the correct transliteration of the name of the island in question. The article for that island calls it Lesbos, but it refers to an attraction on that island as the Petrified Forests of Lesvos. Businesses in that area also call their island Lesvos (as in lesvos.net, lesvos.gr, lesvos.co.uk and so on). The Greek spelling is Λέσβου; the beta character is pronounced as the letter V. The "b" sound in Greek is made by μπ. It would therefore appear that the proper English spelling of Λέσβου is "Lesvos".Flakeloaf 15:11, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

As often happens, there's more than one proper spelling. The beta character made the sound b in ancient Greek, and Lesbos is nearly always spelt with a b in English by people who are talking about its history, and by people who first heard about it in a classical context; also by people who are aware of the connection with lesbianism! I suppose one could try searching Google to see which spelling is commoner right now. Andrew Dalby 12:59, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Google search for "lesbos" at your peril :) Flakeloaf 15:11, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Ouzo similar to absinthe?

Since when is ouzo similar to absinthe? Absinthe is an extremely strong spirit, whereas ouzo, while strong, is not to that extent.--Orthologist 14:39, 2 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, you're right. I have changed this sentence, likening it to pastis instead. OK? Andrew Dalby 16:35, 2 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

POV has been eliminated and absinthe substitute put back in based on Encyclopaedia Britannica reference. RME

The EB claim seems highly POV to me; at the very least it needs to be more explicit. For whom is ouzo a substitute for absinthe? Not for its current drinkers, most of whom have never had any exposure to absinthe and many of whom have probably never heard of it. For its 19th century market? But at that time absinthe itself was accessible to those who wanted it, so was any substitute needed? Encyclopedias can get things wrong, as we know! I have put the EB claim in a footnote temporarily: it would be good to have a verbatim citation and to know which EB article this comes from. (User:Andrew Dalby)

I recall seeing it in the Micropaedia article on ouzo. RME

Well, thanks. If the EB said it, I suppose their author must have meant that ouzo (which already existed before absinthe was widely banned) became more popular in the early 1900s as a substitute for the newly unobtainable absinthe. Maybe so (I wonder if said author did any research on this). As you will know if you have drunk both, there is not much resemblance either in the method of serving, or in the alcohol content, or in the flavour!

My feeling (tell me if you disagree!) is that this information doesn't serve to characterise ouzo as it is today, though it may say something of the marketing of ouzo in the early 20th century. Therefore, maybe it belongs later in the article. Andrew Dalby 18:39, 11 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

For the present I have inserted this description a bit later on, in the history section of the article, as you'll see. I can't verify the quote -- in the 1953 EB, which I have, ouzo seems not to be mentioned. Andrew Dalby 20:03, 11 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As you will know if you have drunk both, there is not much resemblance either in the method of serving, or in the alcohol content, or in the flavour! Apparently you've never had most of what passes for absinthe, since it typically reeks of anise and in fact tastes almost exactly like ouzo! Especially Czech absinthe! Which is 98% of the world market! --76.224.92.30 07:04, 29 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The "POV" referred to by RME above was presumably the statement that ouzo was "pleasant to drink"! I have taken the offending word out.Andrew Dalby 12:46, 11 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

/*What is it made from?*/ What exactly is it fermented from? The article isn't clear.

Name

Bella Online link is dead: [2]. It might be retrievable via The Internet Archive, but that's down today too. Gordonofcartoon 13:18, 7 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

An interesting theory on the etymology of the word 'Ouzo'. In Europe, many drinkable spirits were known by the name 'water of life' (the Scots 'whisky' and Irish 'Whiskey' derive from the gaelic 'uisce beatha' deriving from the latin 'aqua vita'. The scandinavian spirit Akavit having the same route). In Greek this could be rendered νερό ζώου or nero zoo (literally the water of living things). Ouzo is a fairly obvious abreviation from that I would have thought. I should say this is just a theory. I can cite no reference or evidence here. Just thought it might be worth a mention.

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BetacommandBot (talk) 23:53, 22 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Lack of milky color

I was just served ouzo with ice, and it was totally clear, no milky color. Is that possible? Badagnani (talk) 05:36, 9 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Original milkiness?

Why doesn't the ouzo become cloudy in the manufacturing process when water is added to the ouzo yeast: "they simply dilute ouzo yeast with water (and add sugar if needed)?" 76.123.203.164 (talk) 12:52, 2 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This is discussed in a bit more detail in the article on ouzo effect. It seems to have to do with the concentration of ethanol (higher concentrations don't result in cloudiness), but isn't actually that well understood. --Delirium (talk) 13:00, 2 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you!76.123.203.164 (talk) 13:33, 2 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Etymology

Sir G. Clauson, An Etymological Dictionary of Pre-Thirteenth Century Turkish, Oxford 1972, page 288 says that the word "ouzo" derives from the word "üzüm", which means grapes in Turkish. --Tubesship (talk) 17:34, 10 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]