Arrack or rack, coconut arrack, Very Special Old Arrack.
What is it?
Arrack is a distilled liquor (33% -50% alc) from Sri Lanka, made according to age-old traditions. Every morning so-called “tappers” climb through ropes from palm to palm to collect the sweet, white juice from the unopened flower buds of the coconut palm. This moisture begins to ferment almost immediately (<4% alc), it is called “toddy” or palm wine and is drunk in large parts of Asia and Africa. To make arrack, the toddy is collected within 3 to 4 hours in wooden barrels and distilled within 24 hours (in two steps) a distillate that is then allowed to age on wood for years to taste. How to use? You do not get the taste of coconut, it just tastes like whiskey and perhaps a little bit of rum, but with a very unique character. Of course it depends on the quality. You drink it the way you drink whiskey or use it in cocktails instead of whiskey or rum. In Sri Lanka itself people like to mix it with ginger beer. Good arrack is practically unlimited. Tips, facts & recipes Arrack comes in 3 different qualities: Common, Premium Clear and Premium Aged. The latter quality sometimes ripens for 15 years on special barrels of Halmilla wood. Not to be confused with “Batavia arak” from Indonesia, a distillate (60-70%) from sugar cane. Also do not confuse with the aniseed “arak” (50-63%) from the Middle East. And do not confuse it with “arak” from Mongolia, a drink of fermented horse milk (2%).
