review: L’Arack de Musar

• Category: arak (on the basis of grapes)
• Alcohol: 53%
• Origin: Lebanon
• Manufacturer: Chateau Musar
• Bought at: Ton Overmars, Amsterdam, the Netherlands

Chateau Musar is one of the best known Lebanese wineries, and they also make a high quality arak. The smell is outspoken aniseed, and rather spicy, because the sweet hints that usually accompany the smell of aniseed are absent. It also smells quite alcoholic, maybe because of the same reason. The taste is also spicier and less sweet, and more complex. These characteristics might well be related to the fact that it is distilled four times, whereas three times is more usual. But it could also be related to the fact that it has aged for a year in terracotta jars. In either case this extra attention is a good investment. According to the description of Chateau Musar it can also be drunk pure. Even though it is less harsh than other araks, I still find it too strong to drink it pure. In any case it gets the highest rating so far: 8.5/10.

External link: Chateau Musar official site