Posted in Uncategorized, tagged biarittz, L'Avvocato, luxardo, sambuca on September 9, 2010| Leave a Comment »
Like the true WOP that he is, L’Avvocato (a chief digestivo aficionado), ordered the old Sambuca stalwart produced by Luxardo. This is a more upscale version of the classic, Romana Sambuca (which my grandfather affectionately called “zoom zoom”), a family favorite tasting strongly of black licorice and often consumed within a double espresso, thereby making it a modified “cafe corretto”.
Overall Rating: ★★★☆☆
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged basque, biarittz on September 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »
While this digestivo is a little less known than Izarra, it remains the more traditional after dinner drink in Basque country. Both times I tried it however, I found this reddish-brown drink lacking any specific flavor and devoid of character. I later discovered that it is distilled from the sloe berry and is originally from Navarre, in Spain. Even though Patxaran left me a bit underwhelmed, I feel obliged to include it as there aren’t many Basque digestivos out there.
Overall Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged basque, biarittz, izarra on September 3, 2010| Leave a Comment »
A few months ago we took a family holiday to the beguiling land of the Basques; or more specifically, Biarritz and its environs. Like everywhere else on earth, the Basques have their own digestivos and my favorite of them all is Izarra. We encountered this drink in nearly every restaurant where we ate, and in one case after a long lunch in the back of a cafe in Bayonne (home of the Izarra factory), where four of our group remained behind to watch France play in the World Cup (and polish off the bottle in the meantime).
Izarra is distilled from from a concoction of 48 herbs. The recipe was purchased by the botanist Joseph Grattau in the late 19th Century and remains the same to this day. It tastes quite sweet at first, with peppermint flavors standing out the most, and since I was drinking it on the rocks, the finish was a bit diluted.
Il Digestivo 