Arak

Arak, also spelled arrack, is a family of distilled spirits produced across Asia and the Middle East from a wide range of fermentable raw materials, including palm sap, sugarcane juice, dates, and rice. Production methods stretch from small village pot stills to large commercial distilleries, and the flavour and strength of the finished spirit differ sharply by region and feedstock. Some styles, such as the anise-flavoured arak of the Levant, are defined by added botanicals, while others reflect only their base material. Because informal and unrecorded production still occurs in many areas, arak has repeatedly been linked to methanol poisoning outbreaks, so quality control, compositional testing, and regulation of these spirits remain genuine food-safety concerns.