Lush, fragrant layers of mouthwatering aniseed from start to finish. A silky, smooth mouthfeel with no harshness or burn: a world away from the fiery, sticky sambucas usually found on the back bar.

We start by distilling, from scratch, an elderberry eau de vie in one of our copper pot stills. This is a smooth base spirit with exactly the right profile we need before moving onto the next step: co-distilling with star anise.

 With no need to mask a fiery base spirit, we add just the right amount of star anise into the still: which means extracting all the flavours we want, without going so far as to leech out the undesirable bits like tannins and bitter oils.

 To top it off, we give a nod to traditional sambuca by adding a touch of English sugar: not so much to make it sticky and oversweet, but just enough to enhance the intrinsic flavours and bolster the luscious mouthfeel.

 And there you have it: a handcrafted English Sambuca that will revolutionise the way you think about aniseed.

Elderberries; star anise; sugar

Served chilled and neat as an aperitif or digestif. The perfect after dinner drink: no setting on fire please.