What is Arrack?
Arrack is a distilled alcoholic beverage from Southeast Asia. The spirit can be made from palm wine or rice mash and sugar cane, and the ingredients and production methods differ from region to region. Historians assume that arrack is one of the oldest spirits in the world. It is especially popular in India, Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
“Arrack” or “Arak”?
Arrack is not to be confused with “arak“. Although both beverages have a long history, they differ fundamentally from each other. Unlike arrack, arak is an anise spirit and resembles ouzo or pastis in its flavour.
The history of arrack
Arrack has probably been around for more than 4000 years and was first invented in the region of today’s East India. Historians assume that in the beginning, arrack was exclusively made from the fermented plant juices of date palms, sugar palms and coconut palms. The idea to create arrack from rice mash didn’t appear before the invention of rice wine in East Asia.
How is arrack produced?
Generally, there are two different production methods: with coconut flowers and with rice mash and sugarcane.
In order to produce arrack from palm wine, the spadix of the sugar palm or the coconut palm is beaten for several days with a clapper. A few days later, the palm juice can be extracted by cutting the spadix. The palm juice can be fermented without the addition of yeast, which means that this arrack is made from a single ingredient.
If rice mash and sugarcane are used, a so-called saccharification agent is needed. For this, rice flour, sugarcane, garlic, galangal and cinnamon are ground and combined – together they create the “tapej”. By leaving the tapej mass alone for several days, fungi and yeast can develop. To start the fermentation of the sugarcane mash, tapej pieces are added until the mash is fully fermented and ready for distillation.
After the distillation, the arrack matures in teak or halmilla casks, which not only refines the aroma, but is also responsible for the development of the reddish-brown colour.
Which special arrack brands are there?
In Central Europe, arrack is relatively hard to find. The few, available brands include Ceylon Arrack and V.S.O.A.
Arrack at Gustero
At Gustero, our intention is to offer you high-quality spirits and spspecialties from all over the world. That’s why our shop assortment also includes arrack next to other high-quality spirits such as whisky, rum, gin, mead and wine. Currently, our selection of arracks is still pretty small – however, we’d like to you invite you to take a closer look!
Try Ceylon Arrack by Rockland Distilleries, for example, which has been produced by hand since 1924.
