Arak is the national alcoholic drink of Lebanon. It is a distillate from grape alcohol and aniseed.
Making arak is quite a long process. First, the grapes are harvested, then squeezed and poured in barrels for two or three weeks (depending on the temperature) to make sure the fermentation process is complete. The mixture is called Mestar.

arak

 

arak

The main tool used is called a Karkeh (in the Lebanese dialect). The main idea is to extract the alcohol out of the mix. After the fermentation is complete, the mix is put in the lower part of the karkeh.

This first distillation produces alcohol, this is not Arak, just raw alcohol that cannot be drunk.

The raw alcohol is called spirto. Water is added to reduce the alcohol and make sure that the alcohol level is not too high. Again this is a factor in the taste of the Arak.

arak

arak

A second distillation is done. One third the volume of alcohol is added, water plus 2 pounds of aniseed per gallon of alcohol. The aniseed is kept whole and is soaked in hot alcohol in the still the day prior to distillation. This is then distilled a third time.