review: Tamrirt

• Category: fig brandy (flavored with aniseed)
• Alcohol: 41%
• Origin: Morocco
• Manufacturer: Chai Andrieux
• Bought at: Supermarket Marrakesh, Morocco (thanks Renée!)

This bottle of mahia is interesting for the accumulation of languages on the label: french, english, berber, hebrew, and only only marginally arabic. The hebrew reminds of the (once sizeable but now rather small) Jewish population of Morocco. This population traditionally were (and are) the manufacturers of spirits such as these. The Hebrew simply says the name “tamrirt”. I have not been able to find out what the Berber word “Tamrirt” actually; Google vaguely tells about a valley in Algeria, but more information is appreciated. The smell is similar to that of the French mahia Meknesiah (rather aniseed). However after tasting it becomes clear that the Mahia Meknesiah is of a completely different quality. Tamrirt is not The best of spiritueux as the label argues; instead it is intensely bitter and chemical. The question is whether there is any way of concealing the taste in order to make it consumable. However I dare not to try. It is probably even worse than the Finlandia Vodka of Cairo, which results in the lowest rating until now 1,5/10.