Ouzo Ouzo Ouzo (, ) is a dry anise-flavoured aperitif that is widely consumed in Greece, Cyprus, Lebanon and Israel. Its taste is similar to other anise liquors like "rakı", pastis and sambuca. Ouzo has its roots in "tsipouro", which is said to have been the work of a group of 14th-century monks on Mount Athos. One version of it was flavoured with anise. This version eventually came to be called ouzo. Modern ouzo distillation largely took off in the beginning of the 19th century following Greek independence. The first ouzo distillery was founded in Tyrnavos in 1856 by Nikolaos Katsaros,
Ouzo effect Ouzo effect The ouzo effect (also louche or spontaneous emulsification) is a cloudy ("louche") oil-in-water emulsion that is formed when water is added to ouzo and other , such as pastis, rakı, arak, sambuca and absinthe. Such microemulsions occur with only minimal mixing and are highly stable. The ouzo effect occurs when a strongly hydrophobic essential oil such as "trans"-anethole is dissolved in a water-miscible solvent, such as ethanol, and the concentration of ethanol is lowered by addition of small amounts of water. Oil-in-water emulsions are not normally stable. Oil droplets coalesce until complete phase separation is achieved at macroscopic