Arak Review - Behind the Bar
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- Опубліковано 4 чер 2014
- Today's show, we check out Arak. It is a Middle Eastern staple enjoyed by many countries in the Middle East. Will we like it? Will we enjoy something we've never even heard of? Do we have Shawarma to go with it?
Behind the Bar Liquor Reviews is a liquor, beer & wine review show made by 4 old friends. The hosts Special K & Big Daddy have known each other almost their entire lives and are total D-Bags to each other but are as close as brothers. Special K is an entrepreneur that owns a Carolina Style BBQ Catering company, Big Daddy is a CIA certified chef with 10 years experience. Also joining them is their good friend the Mystery Sommelier who is a 9 year certified expert whom they like to make cry on some of his selections. And last but not least is their camera man and lighting guy Tin Man, a long time friend and drinking buddy who just happened to be around to run the cameras.
Remember, drink responsibly and only at your countries legal age limit. Since we're in the US, please keep it to 21 and over, and don't drink and drive.
We hope you enjoy the show, please make suggestions on what we should try. And look out for our other shows such as our Brew Haus Reviews, Bodega Finds, Frat Boy Wasted & Hobo Wine Reviews. And please excuse our first set of videos, the lights we ordered didn't come in on time, and we filmed about 5 or 6 episodes at one time so of course we wore the same clothes the whole time, lol. It's the little things you tend to forget.
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If you're visiting this comment section on this video, you're probably upset by our general lack of knowledge of this region of the world. For that, we do apologize as we have since been taught by many viewers of the egregious mistakes we made with our generalizations.
While we tried to do as much research on the liquor we tried, we gravely left out research on this region of the world and have caused many to correct us in the comments. Thank you for that, as we live in a region of the world that just generalizes the Middle East, and we do apologize for the wrong information we presented.
Thank you.
Howdy guys, I am not upset at all, you were making this video with honest opinion of what you know about the region. I am actually amused that you are venturing out of your way to try a totally foreign product. I am from Syria, I traditionally make Arak for my use. Having said that, the word Arak does mean sweat in Arabic, but also means condensation (AKA distilled liquid). The real way to prepare / serve this drink is the following:
- Pour Arak to a a glass cup or a glass carafe.
-Add water, preferred chilled, to bring alcohol level to your desire. for me if Arak is ~50% I add 50/50 Arak / water.
- then add ice.
Cheers
@@tectonicbrewing4168 That's for that. We plan to film again with another Arak soon and not make the same mistakes we did prior with all the new information we learned.
Behind the Bar Reviews I would like to see you guys again visiting that drink. As a point of fact, Arak is infused with anise seeds. Traditionally, grape wash go through a stripping run. Then the results from that first run (called low-wine) is down proofed to about 40 proof, anise seeds are added to the low-wine and distilled again. They can not do it by using a gin basket, anise seeds has to go in the still.
i really salute how humble you guys are. thank you so much for your honest and sincere apologies.
my comment is rather about the type you have chosen. although we are neighbors in Zahle, Lebanon; and i have known the owners of this distillery since i was a child, it still is one of the cheapest araks in town (Doesn't really taste good). It is similar to drinking one of the cheap whiskeys instead of a JW Gold Label or Glenfiddich 18 as i am sure you know what i mean.
I would recommend you try Brun, Warde, Kefrayya, Faqra, Masaya (Lebanese); ٌRayyan, Sameer, Batta (duck), and Mimas (Syrian), Zumot, and Haddad (Jordan).
One last thing, it is always best consumed with food, mainly mezah due to being always served with olive oil that goes really well with it.
Cheers
@@everlastingbluesin Thanks for that. We are committed to bringing out a new Arak video soon, and handling it properly. I know we are tracking down a new one for the next filming, so hopefully within a couple months we'll have a new Arak video!
Thanks for the kind words again.
actually the oil will break if you pour the arak on ice then you add water. but if you have a high quality Arak it may not break.
in Lebanon we have 3 ways of drinking it:
1- without water or ice. typically by the elders when having a raw lamp liver as breakfast
2- with room temperature water and one ice
3- with room temperature water and without ice
in the end, middle east isn't a desert. especially Lebanon.
Thanks for the info Melhem Saidy! We very much enjoyed this, and will be reviewing more in the future. Unfortunately, most American's (US mainly) just think of the Middle East as a desert. I've been learning the past few years that isn't true. I saw pictures of my friend when she visited Jordan with snow everywhere, and doing this show and doing research on stuff like this, and foods from around the world have shown how little most of us know.
Thanks for checking out the show Melhem, and feel free to make any suggestions on what else we can track down from that region of the world to try.
Melhem Saidy first time in Lebanon and you’re right. It’s gorgeous. I will be stopping by Fahed so I can try this tonight
Behind the Bar Reviews u should visit kurdistan(north iraq) its all mountains and rivers and in the winter the snow is every where and we got lots of magical mountains
"middle east isn't a desert"
well.....we have snow in saudi arabia right now
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@@barbackers Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Jordan aren't desert they are green and very beautiful countries
small correction, I'm from Lebanon, and Lebanon is the only middle eastern country that doesn't have any desert, we have cold and snowy winters, and hot summers. Think of Lebanon's nature and weather exactly as Italy's, we're very similar.
After water is added to the Arak, it doesn’t matter if you pour the mixture over ice or the other way around. The emulsification of the anise seed oils is completed once Arak is diluted in water, and no skin will float atop the drink if you pour it over ice.
I am quite disappointed by the overall openness of these guys. Grappa can be one wonderful spirit - you just have to choose the right one.
And absinthe doesn't need to be harsh either.
And Arak is usually consumed without ice [though the water is chilled with ice].
And it is not produced in the dessert - it is based on grape spirit and grapes don't grow in the dessert...
This post just "confirms" the stereotype of an American, who only knows the boundaries of his/her own country!
Sad!
Dominik, you are quite right. I, the main host, went into this review only knowing what I found about this spirit online. I bought it completely blind not knowing anything, and thought it was wonderful. As far as Absinthe goes, it has only been legal in The States for a short time, and I've only had a little bit of experience with it since. What I've had of Absinthe is harsher than this was. If my Co-host made any naive comments going in, that is because he knew less than I. And unfortunately, no one in the liquor store knew anything about this wonderful liquor. So, the knowledge base wasn't there for me to learn. The desert comment was out of left field, because Big Daddy heard the country list that this product is usually sold in, and instantly made the assumption of that, sorry, nothing was meant to offend anyone. As far as grappa goes, neither of us ever grew up with it, and we've only had low end stuff, so that once again is something we aren't familiar with. If you'd like to recommend one, we'd love to take suggestions.
Once again, nothing was meant to offend in this review, we were just trying to introduce people to a product we'd never had, and turned out to be wonderful. It is good to know the ice thing isn't part of serving, it was how it was listed on the wiki though. Thanks for the insight, hopefully you stick around and maybe give us some other suggestions on other products we might not be familiar with. - Special K.
Thanks Behind the Bar Reviews!
I am working in the hospitality [and as such as bar expert] half of my life. I know, how difficult it is, to assess spirits - especially when we are used to a lot of marketing [seen your vodka reviews as well...].
As you can imagine, it makes a big difference, if you have lower shelf spirits or top shelf spirits! If you try, you will experience a completely different experience - almost as these aren't even in the same category - if this makes sense for you!
When it comes to grappa, two big names and one small one are coming directly to my mind:: Jacopo Poli, Nonino [and the small one:] Berta.
These grappe have a solid reputation under grappa drinkers [even if they are Italian] - obviously they are available in different qualities starting from "squeezing your wallet until it hurts - just a little" to "selling a kidney for one bottle".
My personal favorite is Berta. It is not widely available - it is a rather small distillery in Italy - but they do awesome stuff! If you can get your hands on it, it is worth the try - especially the wood aged stuff [they use also different type of woods, which will make a very interesting result].
When it comes to Absinthe - it certainly has a bite. Try the Absinthes of Jade - which are based on authentic recipes from the late 1800's and the early 1900's. Again - artisian spirits like that are not cheap - but I am rather drinking better than more...
Actually it's not "illegal in most countries" only Iran
Desert?? Seriously...
yes, they have those there
@@DoctorGibbon bruh arak comes from lebanon and there is absolutely no desert in Lebanon.
Wtf Middle east is not a desert on the Gulf Area Syria is a heaven we export all kinds of Fruits make sure from ur sources before posting a video i subscribed and i hope i see a improvement
I have a question. AFAIK Islamic religion has negative view on alcohol drinks. In the middle ages I guess it was illegal to drink or produce alcohol. How did you guys managed to preserve arak distilling technology on such situations?
A lot of the alcohol is not produced by Muslims. Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Iraq, and Syria have (or had) huge Christian communities, in which they made arak. Tunisia's Jews made boukha (fig brandy, kind of like that Eastern European one, slivovaks or whatever it's called). But Muslims tend to be more relaxed about it than people presume.
@@Mas_Tun Tnx for the answer!
Lebanon is a heaven on earth. We have forests and snow caped mountains over here in Lebanon dude, so definitely not a desert.
Charbel Youssef Lebanese food is also amazing, some of the best recipes ever. Just the concept of inventing a drink that magically changes color gives an idea of how advanced the cuisine is. I'm American and unfortunately there arent any Lebanese restaurants in my town.
Everythink is amazing about lebanon
We also throw plastic in our main water source. Our country is polluted like a trashcan
preach !!!
If you guys had to choose between this Gantous & Abou Raad or Alkaissar or Al Karram or the Syrian Jdoudna, which one would you take? It's seems impossible to find more reputable brands where I live. I had a shot of an obscure one called Kasslik a few years ago and enjoyed it quite a lot.
Arak in arabic it's sweat but for alcoholics it's refer to the distillation process where the fermented grape juice cooked on fire
Actually we like to serve it with what we called Maza which is some type of entrees, so maza is a light serve, but with meat most usually with charcoal grilled chicken, not shaorma or lamb.
Arak does mean sweat in Arabic , the name originates from when they used to distill the drink , the alcohol droplets in the still looked like "sweat" and that's why they called it that .
arak is the name used in lebanon and here in the markets this brand cost like 6-7$( we have way batter arak specially the pro hand made arak ) but Lebanese or arab didn't create arak i believe rather its Turkish or Greek ( ouzo) and was commonly found in middle east as the Turkish invasion forced or in lighted many with the crafts and habits, tho i tried the Turkish and Greek version but i like the Lebanese, the greek ouzo has way less flavor and sugar less milky color and the Turkish is so sweet , let me correct you , arak is more to a winter drink due to it's hot nature its good with raw meet and bbq and flavored food to wash out the strong arak flavor , arak also served in a small glasses and prepared in a vessel and in some traditional breakfasts in Lebanon arak is served. thank u for the video
Not all Middle Eastern countries are desert .for example in Iraq there are two massive rivers caled "Degla and Euphrates" and a many farms around these rivers In northern Iraq there are mountains, meadows and pine trees, in Lebanon there is a mountains and forests in Syria the same, .The oldest and great civilizations: Assyrian Sumerians Babylonian, Canaanites, Phoenicians, Pharaohs Egypt, Persia emerged from these 6 countries, Unfortunately the American people is isolated from the world and all his information about the Middle East is wrong, i dont understand why!!
جئت لأنقاذكم Unfortunately it is how the education system is with those countries for us in the US. But, since the release of this episode, we've had a lot of people reach out to us and enlighten us. Quite honestly, it has lead to me personally looking back on the history of a lot of middle eastern nations and learning about their pasts even. I was definitely a much more ignorant man these years ago when we posted this.
Syria has high ranke in oilive and cotton farming not desert like some people think
How similar is to the Ethiopian Areki / Katikala and Sudanese Araqi to Arak?
Would it be accurate to describe Sudanese Araqi as Date-Arak and if so, would it be theoretically possible to create Ginger-Arak?
The more you drink the higher you rate it it's the best
Did he just pour arak over the ice 😂😂
If you truely wanna enjoy arak drink while eating barbecue ( any type would work even good old fashion american barbecue )
This is the Lebanese National drink, and there is no desert in Lebanon, that tells you how much they know.
The cousin drinks in all the neighboring countries are different. like the drink made by Iraqis is out of Date.
Its no recommended to drink Arak in shots, rather with Meza or food.
That’s not true Iraq arak is not out of date it’s still made there… your information is wrong.
What would you suggest with oatmeal if not arak?
jimmy shmitt, bacon flavored vodka? -BD
dude that is offensive because not all the middle east is desert, for example Iraq is not completely desert only 33% is desert.
I'm Iraqi btw
Shame you didn’t have ice, but water is absolutely necessary. Had you had it as a shot, you would have given it a 2/10 rating.
In Iran it's Called Araghsaggi
Saha or Sahtak mean cheers in Arabic, I never heard about the ice thing, and alcohol was invented in Iraq few thousand years ago, few days ago they banned sailing alcohol in Iraq
cheers in Arabic is "Khalleekon"
( Leave your comment in English )
I wanna taste it , it must be very strong , healthy & cheap tbh
What's the price of 1 bottle roughly ?
I got a Palestinian brand.Soon will get me a Lebanese one and a Syrian one although with the current situation in Syria idk if I could find it
Very cool! We enjoyed this stuff a lot. We broke it out at a few BBQ's this summer too. It was a big hit! Thanks for watching Cyrus.
Behind the Bar Reviews hey it surprised me too I wasn't expecting it.actually the only reason I tried it was cause I saw your video on it.I got curious and I liked it a lot.good stuff.
Very cool! Glad we inspired someone else to give this a try. I have only seen Arak in 2 liquor stores here locally and they both have been the same brand. I'm going to have to hunt around and see if I can find another brand. -SK
what's Palestine
Try jordanian arak there are diffrent brands of jordanian arak.. i would recommend you to try arak mawal or arak haddad
My personal fav is mawal
There are actually some people who really thinks that the middle east is desert!!! Really???
If you look though comments, you'll see we've been called out on this before. And we'll fully admit; the US School System in the 80's and 90's pretty much taught that the middle east was endless desert.
Even though I'm familiar with countries in the Middle East that aren't desert... The conditioning of out of date school teachings still rear their ugly head when just going "Off the cusp."
Pour arak first then the water then the ice
Yeah, we were flying blind on this.
Great show
Your friend in the green is a toxic character though
glad you liked our Arak ... not so glad you shittalked about us!! at least you should google lebanon if you are preparing for the episode!!! dude we don't have deserts and might have snowy mountains and forests more than you!!
Hey Serge el-mir. If you look though previous comments and my responses, you'll see that I have long since learned of the mistakes of this episode. I've apologized for this many times, and know we were wrong with our generalization of this region of the world being all desert. I have no other excuse then poor planning on that end, and we were asses.
Now that the host in green isn't on the show any more, I plan to do Arak again with a much more educated mindset. Thanks for your comment, and know that we learned a lot from this episode and from the people that live in the region.
cool man... all the best for the channel as well :) going 2 sub as well :D
Ilove ramallah golden arak
In palestine its more better than whesky
Lol that’s definitely not the right way to mix a cup of arak
It definitely is! One part Arak, then two or three parts cold water, then ice. In that order. At least this is in Syria and Lebanon..Lebanon produces the best Arak’s. I mean the ones produced by traditional winemakers, who also distill some Arak as an additional product : Arak Kefraya, Arak Massaya, Arak Ksarak. Also Arak Brun, and many small family distilleries.
Why didn't you boys get some ice? If you're gonna buy an $18 bottle, might as well try it as it is made to be tried.
oopps. didn't wait for the video to run.
@@PatIreland No worries, we plan to try it again with all the new knowledge we've learned about it!
Wankers. The guy in the green shirt! I feel so sorry for you, I guess you can't help it you were just born that way or your up bringing
Plz stop assuming lebanon is a desert and has camels. Just search for the country
Please look at our replies to other people that have said this. We plan to re-film with a new Arak, and also please check the pinned post. Honestly it stems from a lack of proper teaching on the middle east region back in the 80's and 90's in the US.
Behind the Bar Reviews try Turkish raki next time.
Bonus info: US has more deserts than many other middle eastern countries.
Is this a sprit some everthing alcohol
Arak does not drink like this. Your method is wrong. First, the real arak is 70% alcohol. It is called the triangle arak. It pours a third of the cup arak, a third of water and two ice cubes. The arak you drink is commercial arak. If you want to experience the real arak, you should visit Syria
Cheers....in Middle Eastern. The guy in the green shirt is the most stereotypical American I've ever seen. Complete lack of awareness baked in with an unearned sense of superiority.
Guys this is wrong Arak is originally is Syria not Lebanon u shouldve tried the Syrian Arak anyway the best way to drink it is with Kebab Barbeque or seafood btw i dont like Arak and im Syria i prefer Whiskey
+lebnen143 city 15
No, you are totally wrong ! Search first before post a video! Arak is originally from Persia, not Lebonan. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aragh_sagi#:~:text=2%20Legality-,Etymology,from%20raisins%20but%20without%20anise.
thumbs-down for being racist!