• Category: aniseed liqueur
• Alcohol: 36,4%
• Origin: Morocco
• Manufacturer: Les Economats du Maghreb
• Bought at: Supermarket, Morocco (thanks Eert’s father!)

Taounate apparently refers to a locality in the north of Morocco, close to Fes. This Moroccan liqueur (sweetened liquor) fortunately is not very sweet. Instead it has a strong aniseed aroma (it smells like arak), but the combination with the sugar makes it taste more like licorice than like anise. It is not too bad, but the aftertaste slightly has an industrial flavor to it, albeit by far not as dominant as in Tamrirt. It is unclear what the spirit is made of, but the palm trees on the cover might indicate that it is made of dates, similar to the Egyptian arak Meliniotis (qv). The taste also resembles that of arak Meliniotis. The rather cheap (plastic!) bottle is interesting as well: it features a familiar topos (palm trees) in addition to a rather unexpected hand of Fatima (symbol against the evil eye) on the bottleneck. However, the khamsa (as it is more correctly referred to) serves the same purpose in Judaism, and in this case this relation seems to be more likely. 6,5/10.

External link: Map (Arabic), Map (French) of the region
External link: Wikipedia: Khamsa

• 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.

• Category: fig brandy (flavored with aniseed)
• Alcohol: 36%
• Origin: France
• Manufacturer: Thivolet Universal
• Bought at: Naouri kosher supermarket, Nice, France

Mahia (which means water of life in Arabic) is originally a Jewish Moroccan fig brandy. As the Anisette Phénix, it is now produced in France. Nevertheless other brands are still available in Morocco (see the second external link). It apparently exists either as a pure eau de vie of figs (as the Tunisian Boukha) or flavored with aniseed. This Mahia Meknesiah is flavored with aniseed, but it is very subtle, completely unlike arak, pastis or ouzo where anise is overwhelming. In any case the aroma is rather similar to boukha, but it is much fruitier en more fragrant. The taste is also much better than boukha. It should definitely not be diluted with water. It tastes fresh and fruity and the anise flavor gives a very nice and subtle touch. 8,5/10.

External link: M.G. Taieb Kosher Products
External link: Dafina Forums: Mahia (in French)