Talk:Ouzo

message: 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)
thread_title: Untitled

message: 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)
thread_title:  Cheers! 

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

text: 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)
thread_title: Church of Ouzo

message: This article should probably say what the water-to-ouzo ratio should be... —alxndr (t) 01:46, 30 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  how much water? 

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)
thread_title:  Ouzo 7, Ouzo 12 

message: 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)
thread_title:  Liqueur/ Liquor 

message: If I may add my 2 cents to user:Dashers, there is an inconsistency between Ouzo and absinthe. It is unclear which is a liqueur and which a liquor.
In the List of liqueurs there is a note: "Absinthe, Arak, Rakı, and similar anise-flavored beverages contain no sugar and thus are flavored liquors rather than liqueurs.", but ouzo is included in the "Anise-flavored liqueurs".
In the Flavored liquor page, the same distinction is made: "They are distinct from liqueurs in that liqueurs have a high sugar content, whereas flavored liquors contain no added sugar."
As far as I know, ouzo does not contain added sugar and it is certainly not sweet. It is distilled from raisins with added flavors.
According to  the making of liqueurs includes sweetening.
According to  ouzo is a liqueur, because it is a flavored spirit and not because of sugar content.
According to , liqueurs are sweet and both ouzo and absinthe are liqueurs.
So, the confusion is general.
I propose that both absinthe and ouzo be put in the same category, either the Flavored liquor one (which makes more sense to me) or the liqueur one.
Helentr (talk) 22:59, 26 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: That seems reasonable to me; I've changed the intro to say "anise-flavored spirit" instead of "anise-flavored liqueur", which uses the same terminology as the absinthe article. As far as actual categories go, both are in :Category:Anise liqueurs and spirits, whose name is neutral as to whether it's a liqueur or some other kind of spirit. --Delirium (talk) 22:38, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Thank you for the swift response --Helentr (talk) 15:32, 30 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: There are ouzos which are quite sweet (especially from Southern Greece), and there are completely dry ones. Not sure though, if the sweet ones have a sugar content high enough to qualify them as liqueurs. I seriously doubt it. 31.24.11.129 (talk) 17:36, 4 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Liqueur/ Liquor 2 

message: 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)
replies: text: I disagree, at least partly. Some absinthes, especially the Swiss "bleues" (clear/white ones) are not radically different from ouzo or pastis, because they have a high anise content. Pastis contains liquorice besides the anise, in an amount that just can't be ignored. Ouzo may also contain herbs and seeds other than anise, which complement its aroma. I would say sambuca is the odd one out here, because it's a liqueur, it's a lot sweeter than the others. An Italian equivalent to the other dry anise liquors would rather be Mistra , from the Marche region. 31.24.11.129 (talk) 17:29, 4 June 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Correction: green absinthe gets its colour from a mazeration with colouring herbs (such as artemisia pontica) after the distillation. (Any colour would't survive the distillation.) Clear/white absinthe doesn't get mazerated after the distillation; that's the main reason why it's not this dissimilar to ouzo or pastis. 31.24.11.129 (talk) 17:45, 4 June 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: But, it's important to understand that bleue/clear/white absinthe doesn't necessarily have a low content of wormwood. Because of its extreme bitterness, wormwood isn't typically used as a colouring herb, hence the colour of an absinthe doesn't give any clue about the wormwood content. 31.24.11.129 (talk) 18:02, 4 June 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Similarities 

message: 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)
thread_title:  ouzo....cocaine????? 

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)
replies: text: Google search for "lesbos" at your peril :) Flakeloaf 15:11, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Lesvos // Lesbos

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

message: :Image:Ouzo Bottle.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.
Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
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BetacommandBot (talk) 23:53, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Fair use rationale for Image:Ouzo Bottle.JPG

message: 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)
thread_title:  Lack of milky color 

message: 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)
replies: text: 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)
replies: text: Thank you!76.123.203.164 (talk) 13:33, 2 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Original milkiness?

message: 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)
thread_title: Etymology

message: Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān al azdi known as Geber in west who lived in Khorasan which was a Turkish and Persian city in the 8th century, invented distillation.It is not possible to make a distilled liqueur before that time :) 
88.255.50.1 (talk) 16:05, 1 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: That depends on the definition of the word "ancient". In France, they generally consider "ancient" to be more than 100 years old. However, personally I agree with you. 8th century isn't truly ancient. Neither are the Byzantine or Ottoman Empires. However, I did once see a laughable description of the "Ancient Ottoman Empire" on a large exhibit at the British Museum. Just goes to show that the word "ancient" isn't always used correctly (not even by historians and archaeologists) Nipsonanomhmata (talk) 10:25, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Making Ouzo in Ancient Times, before invention of distillation ?

message: These alcoholic drinks also exist in Greece. They are not usually anise-flavored in Greece. It is confusing to claim that they are in the context of Ouzo. I wouldn't be surprised if there are anise-flavored variations of raki, tsikoudia or tsipouro but one has to explain that these products are not usually anise-flavored in Greece. Also, raki, tsikoudia and tsipouro are not aperitifs. They are generally "burn your gullet" "eau de vie" spirits. Although I wouldn't recommend getting drunk on Ouzo since it will deliver the worst kind of hangover. Mastiha is something completely different. It is not usually anise-flavored. At least not in most of the places where I have tried it in Greece. For the anise-flavored version of Mastiha you have to explain that there are non-anise flavored versions of it that are much more common. Have also noticed that there is a drink called "Mastiha Ouzo". I am not sure if this is an anise-flavored Mastiha or Ouzo with the brand-name "Mastiha". If Mastiha is used as a base for Ouzo it will be a completely different drink and should not really be called Ouzo (but I guess they can get away with calling it "Mastiha Ouzo"). Nipsonanomhmata (talk) 10:40, 19 April 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I think it depends on the part of Greece. In my experience, Tsipouro in Macedonia (Northern Greece) is most commonly anise-flavored, and seen as more or less a home-made variant of ouzo. --Delirium (talk) 13:12, 2 August 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: These may be called tsipouro colloquially, but since tsipouro and tsikoudia are GIs for local pomace spirits , and as such, may not have a dominant flavouring, anise spirits with whatever base spirit may not be legally labeled as tsipouro or tsikoudia in Greece. As for mastiha, there are many ouzo flavoured with mastic, hence the legally accepted name overlap, but mastiha on its own is not anise flavoured. – Phoney (talk) 07:35, 8 January 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Indeed tsipouro with anise is sold in Greece - one can assume, legally - under the name "tsipouro" () ; the law says "Grape marc spirit or grape marc shall not be flavoured. This shall not exclude traditional production methods." so you can not use it as an argument against the existence of anise-flavoured tsipouro.--Phso2 (talk) 22:20, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

text: Indeed. I had known about the exception of traditional methods, but I also falsely assumed that pomace character was required to be predominant. Thanks for the information! – Phoney (talk) 09:19, 9 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Raki, Tsikoudia, Tsipouro and Mastiha

message: So where does the ethanol come from? "Agricultural origin" does imply fermenation of some sort of biomass, does it not?  Moletrouser (talk) 08:01, 2 August 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The article does not consider the production of rectified spirit (officially named ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin by EU regs) to be part of ouzo making itself. The base spirit isn't even made by the ouzo distiller; they buy it as a base ingredient. Just like harvesting wheat is not strictly a part of bread making. – Phoney (talk) 10:58, 15 September 2013 (UTC)

text: I was wondering about this too. At least, I'd like to know what grain the ethanol is typically made from. tharsaile (talk) 15:21, 15 September 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Ouzo production does not include any fermentation...

message: The option of pre-added anethole doesn't appear in EU regulations, though 0,05% would be a decisive part of the final amount. I think the information should be considered wrong unless present Greek regulations (which I couldn't find) state different. – Phoney (talk) 15:53, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Anethole added