Drink This: Old Sugar Distillery's Americanaki Ouzo

By Amy Cavanaugh in Food on Nov 18, 2012 7:00PM

The Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board recently sent us on a three-day tour of the state's cheese-makers, breweries, and distilleries. While there, we took a break from stuffing ourselves on cheese to go to a tasting at Madison's Old Sugar Distillery. The Distillery, which was founded in 2010, makes a terrific rum (the Cane and Abe, made from domestically-grown dark brown cane sugar), sorghum whiskey, honey liqueur, brandy, and grappa. But we were most surprised by the ouzo, which is an American take on the Greek classic.

Distiller and founder Nathan Greenawalt, who is of Greek descent, made the ouzo with a mash of Midwestern dark brown beet sugar. First he infuses it with star and seed anise, and adds anise to the head of the still on the second disillation. The result is a 90-proof smooth and spicy anise liqueur.

We sipped it straight, but Greenawalt is also using a dash in the bar's version of a sazerac. You can have one if you visit Old Sugar Thursday and Friday from 4-10 p.m. or Saturday from noon-10 p.m.

You can also find Old Sugar bottles around Chicago—it's available on the shelf at Binny's, Provenance Food & Wine, and Maria's Packaged Goods, among other places. The ouzo is on the menu at Watershed Bar, and you can find the rum at Frontera Grill, Nightwood, and other spots.