Sambuca
Sambuca takes its name from the elder plant (Sambucus nigra), though the dominant flavoring in the modern Italian style is star anise and green anise rather than elderflower. The liqueur's roots lie in the anise spirit traditions of the Mediterranean littoral, but the distinctively Italian, syrup-sweet style was codified in the 20th century — Luigi Manzi is credited with creating the Civitavecchia style around 1945, and Molinari's ubiquitous white sambuca became the commercial benchmark through the postwar decades. Sambuca became internationally synonymous with the Roman café tradition of serving it 'con la mosca' — with the fly — three coffee beans floating in the glass.
Flavor Profile
White (clear) sambuca is intensely sweet and anise-forward, with star anise providing the dominant anethole-driven flavor backed by green anise and a clean, almost medicinal alcohol lift. The sugar content is high, giving a thick, syrupy body, while the finish is warm and lightly licorice-herbal with a cooling effect reminiscent of menthol. Black sambuca, as typified by Romana Black, adds elderberry and blackcurrant notes for a darker, slightly more bitter fruitiness behind the anise core, and red sambuca introduces a warming spiced-berry character.