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Arak/Arrack


Gillman
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Absinto, 57% ABV, from Caves Neto Costa S.A., Anadia, Portugal. Poured on one rock in a Waterford glass.

Colour: like a green Caribbean sea.

Nose: very light, hints of menthol, faint anise, herbs or grass.

Taste: sweet and rounded, restrained in flavour. Very pleasant but no flavor stands out. Little if any bitterness. Quite removed from the araks I've mentioned. The 1970's pastis I mentioned (Pernod's) also is quite distant, sharing more in common with the araks than this Iberian absinthe.

Aftertaste: very little.

Actually, visions are starting to appear, not phantasmagoric, not poetical/artistic, but just of good times of Gazebos to come...

Gary

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On retasting I admire the subtlety of this drink. Everything you want in an absinthe is "there" but in a restrained mode. For this style, drinking neat (in small amounts) is the way to go I think, not diluting with water as is the custom.

Gary

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  • 4 weeks later...

We move now to the absinthe side of the anise drinks spectrum.

Pernod Absinthe 68% ABV.

Poured a finger in my rounded WR glass, two rocks, fill to three-quarters with spring water.

The color is a louched green, like some tropical seas.

Nose is quite minimal (even before the shock of ice and water).

The taste is very good: anise certainly there but not as prominent as in the Lebanese or Israeli araks. There are herbal and grassy overtones. The drink has a very mild sweetness and I could see that some people would add sugar to increase this element. I like it tel quel, though.

A very even-flavored, pleasant drink with many subtle flavors.

Gary

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Last night a friend happened to have some Absente (an absinthe substitute) and Ricard, the well-known pastis made by the company which also makes Pernod (and a passel of other drinks around the world including some bourbon).

The Absente was lighter than the other drinks I've mentioned or seemingly so. It had a nice combination of minty and anise notes.

The Ricard seemed similar to Pernod, perhaps a little drier and less intense. It seemed in the bottle to look reddish but when poured I couldn't detect this, however I plan to buy some myself to have another go.

Nice drinks but very much in the range of those discussed earlier, i.e., the araks are the most anise-flavored; the absinthes blend anise, herbal and other notes; and the pastis' are most akin to the absinthes but with less bitterness.

The sample is still quite small so I'll pursue this over the next months with other brands as I buy or get to try them outside the home.

Gary

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An Egyptian neighbour from me promised to take a bottle of Egyptian arak with him,according to him it is made in Egypt from palmwinebrandy.I`m curious and let you know what it tast like as soon he is back.

Eric.

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Interesting topic, Gary. I bought my first bottle of ouzo (Metaxa) on a whim about 20 years ago. I found that I liked it over ice during the warm months. Ouzo takes my mind to a warm sunny Greek island. Pernod is the only other anise flavored liqueur I have tried. I will now have to try arak. I think I have seen Ksara here in Dallas.

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Ksara is excellent, rich and full-flavored, I might bring that one to Gazebo. It can do double duty in that it helps makes a great Sazerac.

Gary

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