1 April, 2013
Arak
Posted in : Drinks, Recipes on by : el Meza
Arak – Lebanon’s National Alcoholic Drink.
Arak is an Arabic word that refers to Lebanon’s most popular alcoholic drink after beer and wine, a usually 100-proof distillate of late-fall golden grapes mixed with aniseed.
The resulting drink, clear in its pure form but milky when mixed with water, has the smooth, refreshing taste of licorice and perhaps peppermint. It is the favorite drink of Sunday brunchers, who drink arak in accompaniment of a three or four-hour meal, the mezze, itself a battalion of small dishes that compete for the palate’s attention.
It’s traditional for eastern Mediterranean societies, including those in Jordan, Syria, Israel, Palestine and even Iraq, to claim to be either the originators of arak or its best producers. Good arak, however, is synonymous with Lebanese arak.
The real ARAK mix:
1 part of ARAK for 2 parts of cold water
2 – 3 ice cubes
Pour Arak into Arak glass.
Add water slowly until it turns white.
Add ice cubes. Adding the ice cubes at the end is very important!