Arak

Traditional Brandy produced in Syria and Lebanon, where there is an important Christian community, while it is disappearing from the other countries of the Middle East because of the Islamic ban on drinking alcohol. It is obtained by distillation of a base made from fermented grape juice and grains of anise. The maturation takes place in clay jars. In other Asian regions the name Arak takes the generic meaning of distillate, for example, in Indonesia it indicates a rice distillate  and in Iraq a date distillate. It has an alcohol volume between 50 and 70%.