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Arrack vs Arak
At least several times we've mentioned Arrack as the ancestor of rum. I had a chance to try it and was surprised how different from rum it actually was. It was light with coconut oil notes. Very pleasant but not exactly similar to rum.
Then I did some research to find that Arak and Arrack are essentially two different drinks. Arak is indeed a distillate from fermented molasses and rice (I expect it to include notes of rum and sake, both of which I like). It is produced in Lebanon and surrounding countries. On the other hand, Arrack Is a spirit distilled from coconut palm sap and made mostly in Ceylon and India. Therefore my next goal is to try Arak and see how it compares to rum. Lesson learned that the world of spirits is extremely rich!
Hi kudzey,
I also did not know about Arak and Arrak and is quite confusing because there are already at the Arrak two completely different types of raw materials. The arrack from Sri Lanka or Bali is made from fermented palm blossom juice, the arrack from Thailand is made from molasses / rice mash. The distillate from palm blossoms reminds more of an Agricole the other one of a funny molasses rum.
According to Wikipedia, arak is an anise schnapps.
- "Arak or Araq (Arabic عرق, DMG ʿaraq, "sweat") is a clear, unsweetened anise spirit. It is often confused conceptually with arrack, the much sweeter rice brandy common in India, Sri Lanka, Southeast Asia, and also Russia."-.
- "Arrak, also spelled arrack, is a spirit distilled from pure palm sap or sugar cane and rice mash with 35-70 percent alcohol by volume. Arrak production today is mainly limited to Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and some Southeast Asian countries, with production methods and ingredients varying from country to country. Arrack is often classified between whiskey and rum in terms of aroma and taste, and is the main ingredient in traditional punch. Originating in India, arrack is believed to be one of the oldest spirits in the world, invented in the first half of the 2nd millennium BC. It is considered the precursor of several spirits known today, such as Rakı, vodka and rum, and was one of the most popular spirits in Europe until the 18th century. It should not be confused with the Arabic anise spirit arak."-.
If you want to try the molasses / rice mash thing, the Thai ones aren't so bad (Hong Thong or Sang Som) and not so expensive either.
Have fun trying them.
Hi Rene, thanks a lot for clarifying this! You saved me from another mistake (and drinking a licorice-flavored spirit, I thinkI wouldn't like it).
My bottle of Batavia Arrack van Oosten ran me only $28 US. Batavia was a city on the NW coast of Java, as pictured on the map on the front label. It was renamed Jakarta after World War 2. This spirit is made from 98% sugar cane and 2% Java red rice. It is blended and bottled at 50% ABV by Dutch East Indies Trading Ltd. I can't believe that I finally got a hold of a bottle, as this one is quite hard to find. If one can handle Haitian clairins and Oaxacan mezcals, then one can handle this strange spirit. It definitely has notes of anise. I gather that the small percentage of red rice works the same as whatever is thrown into the fermentation process for Jamaican rums to introduce the hogo funk. However, I detect no hogo funk at all as this one is a totally different animal. It is cheap enough to take a chance on if one is so inclined for strange tasting spirits. I do not find it offensive in any way. On a historical note, by the time this one finally made it's way to the Caribbean, there was no need for the fermented red rice and rum as we know it today was born.
This topic piqued my interest in red rice from Java. It has tremendous health benefits and can lower cholesterol similar to the statin drugs while also lowering blood pressure. Then I ran across another article about red rice from the Low Country of South Carolina, which was brought over by the Gullah people from West Africa. Well, that one is plain rice with tomato sauce and spices being added, similar to red jambalaya from south Louisiana. So the red rice in the USA is NOT the same as the red rice from Java.
kudzey, aniseed schnapps is not so bad after a meal. It exists in various countries under different names.
Arak, Ouzo, Raki, Pastis....
Paul, yes the By The Dutch Batavia Arrack is very special in taste.
Yeah Rene, I've tried these and I can recognize their quality but that's just not what I like :)
Anyway, I'll try to find Javan Arrack and try it. Meanwhile I noticed that Ceylon Arrack combines well with fallernum in cocktails. It makes light and refreshing drinks.