Liqueurs can be a great shortcut to a specific flavor, and sometimes browsing the liqueur aisle can be an excellent way to get cocktail ideas. That’s how Jessi helped me come up with the Anise Anise. At Total Wine, Jessi saw a bottle of Anisette and instantly remembered an anise-flavored candy from her childhood. You don’t really find a lot of anise candy nowadays, so the sight of the bottle filled her with pleasant nostalgia. Unsurprisingly, the bottle found it’s way into our cart.

Having not tasted the original candy, I was at a disadvantage, but the Anisette flavor reminded me of licorice, and this brought to mind the traditional Sazerac, the sweetly aromatic signature cocktail of New Orleans:

Sazerac
– 2 oz rye whiskey
– .5 oz simple syrup (or muddled sugar cube)
– 3-4 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters
Stir ingredients and strain into absinthe-rinsed rocks glass. (Alternatively, you can build the drink directly in the glass.) Garnish with an extra-long lemon peel.

These proportions would be my starting point. Since I was now on a candy kick, I reached for the Winchester Extra Smooth Bourbon, which bears a heavy caramel flavor. Next, I added the Anisette along with 3 dashes of Peychaud’s bitters. Since those were three very sweet ingredients, I opted for a little bit of spice in the form of a pre-made cardamom syrup. The syrup proved overpowering though, so I diluted it with simple syrup in a 1-to-1 ratio. So there you have it:

Anise! Anise!
– 2 oz Winchester Extra Smooth Bourbon
– 1 oz Hiram Walker Anisette
– 1/4 oz simple syrup
– 1/4 oz cardamom syrup
– 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Stir and strain into a rocks glass with ice ball.

Now, this is where things get a little crazy because Jessi thought of a modification to this drink, and this is the recipe featured in the video:

Anise! Anise! (Jessi’s Modification)
– 2 oz Winchester Extra Smooth Bourbon
– 1 oz Hiram Walker Anisette
– 1/4 oz simple syrup
– 1/4 oz cardamom syrup
– 3 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
Stir and strain into Collins glass over ice. Express extra-long orange peel over drink and thread peel down between ice cubes. Top with splash of soda.

This drink, full of nostalgia and sweet flavors, has become Jessi’s go-to cocktail and a welcome addition to my repertoire. While the initial version has a great warming effect on a cool evening, Jessi’s modified version makes for a tasty sweet and spicy summer drink. Of course, my favorite thing about this cocktail is how it all came from spotting one bottle of a nostalgia-inducing liqueur on a random grocery trip.