Raki and Ouzo

It is evening in the gypsy camp outside of Istanbul. It is an inopportune evening to arrive but because Kerim Bey is a friend of the family, he and his guest, James Bond will be allowed to stay. "Ah, raki!" He says with enthusiasm as he sits down to dinner, "filthy stuff!" Later, after the Bulgars attack the camp and Kerim Bay is shot due to his pistol jamming, Bond pours raki over his wound and says "Meanwhile, I'll take care of this 'filthy stuff'" as he starts to take a swig of the bottle. Powerful stuff, I think to myself, after all, Kerim Bey's bullet riddled arm heals in just a day or two. Magnificent! I must try some.


So it goes anyway in the film version of From Russia with Love. In the novel, things transpire slightly differently. First, his the way to Turkey, Bond endures a harrowing flight to Athens and then, once safely landed, walks straight to the transit lounge bar and orders an Ouzo, drinks it down and follows it with a mouthful of ice water. Fleming writes "There was a strong bite under the sickly taste of anise and Bond felt it light a quick, small fire down his throat and in his stomach. He put down his glass and ordered another." Thus, he is fortified for the next leg of his journey. Well, after "an excellent dinner, half a bottle of Calvet claret and two martinis", he is, at any rate!


Once in Turkey, Bond meets the Head of Station T, Kerim Bey. Unlike his celluloid counterpart, the novel's Kerim Bey is a big, powerfully built man but much as in the film, he has strong opinions and is intensely likeable and pragmatic. When Bond arrives, he opines that serious discussion can only transpire with Turkish coffee or raki and, as it is morning and too early for raki, he chooses coffee. Of course, their discussion continues well into lunch, and he introduces Bond to his first taste of raki. Bond's appraisal is that raki is identical to ouzo and he drinks it down without complaint. But, of course he does! He is Bond.



The next time Bond encounters Raki, it is served at the gypsy camp the way many people today serve table wine. There is an open bottle in front of them, served with water on the side and several other unopened bottles, planned for a long evening of dining and deliberation. It is clearly meant to accompany the hot, spicy goulash they are served and meant to eat with their fingers. After the attack, Kerim Bey is not injured as in the film, although his gun does indeed jam. Bond has some raki to calm down and hands some to Kerim and to Vavra, leader of the gypsies.


At no point in the novel is raki referred to as "filthy stuff" In fact, in my own research, I found many remarks about it's similarity to ouzo and even to absinthe but I found none that supported such a remark. Rather the opposite. Many claim that raki is the unofficial liquor of Turkey.


In part owing to the fact that From Russia with Love is one of my favorite 007 novels and certainly my favorite of the film series featuring Sean Connery, I was deeply intrigued and purchased a bottle each of raki and of ouzo so I could try them side by side and see for myself if Ian Fleming was correct about them being identical. I did not find either had a "sickly taste of anise" but then, that is a matter of taste. Understand that I only bought the best of the handful of brands available to me, this is by no means a definitive evaluation of the two classifications of spirits; merely this writer's impressions of two examples of this spirit.



Ouzo - Compared with raki, ouzo (in the form of Ouzo 12) is the lower proof of the two spirits (at 80 proof) and more straight forward in terms of nose and flavor profile. The nose is very anise forward with a hint of lemon and lime. The flavor is anise forward with a subtle note of wintergreen in the finish. The color, when mixed with an equal amount of water was cloudy but not opaque.


I found that it pared nicely with spicy food, cleansing the palette as needed. My companion and I found it very drinkable but a good deal less herbaceous and far sweeter than absinthe or Herbsaint but certainly drier and more nibble than Sambuca or, another anise-forward spirit. Paring with food did much to repair this potential inequity.



Raki - Indeed, as Mr. Fleming asserts, very similar to ouzo but not identical. While both spirits are made from fermented poultice of grapes and occasionally other fruits and both are distilled with anise and other herbs found in abundance around the Mediterranean and both are sweetened, the are not identical. Our example of raki possessed a deeper flavor with subtle savory notes and pronounced, but not unpleasant, bitter notes not present in the ouzo. Very much an "anise spirit" but with enough other herbal notes present that the anise seemed less "forward" while the alcohol burn was stronger; which is not surprising considering the spirit is sold at 90 proof. Oddly, the raki possessed in both the nose and the flavor, in addition to the expected anise presence, a kind of acrid quality that was hard to identify. My companion said it reminded her of cheap tequila "mixtos" from her youth while it reminded me of the scent of tires; certainly a "funk". This is not necessarily a negative. Many old spirits, Maraschino and Batavia Arrak in particular, possess a kind of funk that modern palettes find disturbing. I attribute this to what I imagine was a wider, more forgiving palette in generations past but if this quality is present in all or even most incarnations of raki, I can see why the 007 filmmakers chose to refer to raki as "filthy stuff". There is a kind of unrefined quality to it. Not at all unpleasant but a taste to be acquired. By the end of the tasting, I preferred the raki (although I learned that it is not to be mixed with other spirits- a tale I will hopefully never tell!) and she far preferred the ouzo.


Since both raki and ouzo are relatively affordable spirits, I would suggest that any Bond fan truly curious, try both. If you do not care for the flavor of anise, you are missing out on one of the oldest flavors in the history of mankind and you just may find that these spirits could change your mind.


Enjoy.