El Namroud distillery (Israel)

Lebanese arak distillers in Israel Moshav Goren, Israel
This story shows how the regional upheavals of a few years back could turn into a chance for amateurs of quality booze in Israel : the founders of what is maybe the best arak distillery in this country are actualy Lebanese born. An interesting thing is that they were all members of the south Lebanon militia known as the SLA, which helped the Israelis fight the Hizbollah threat when Israel invaded south Lebanon at the end of the 70s'. When the Israeli army retreated from there in 2000, many SLA milicians (700 of them according to some articles) took refuge in Israel with their families. Elias, the founder (not on any picture here) was one of them. He doesn't give his family name for security reasons regarding the rest of his family still living in Lebanon. Along with fellow SLA members he founded this arak distillery following the same traditional quality process carried out in Zahle, the hometown of quality arak and wines in the Beqaa valley. Elias said in an interview that now he and his associates were not serving in a war, but they wanted to bring something from the people of Lebanon to the state of Israel. Like in Lebanon, the arak is made with white grapes with multiple distillations. The El Namroud distillery is located in Moshav Goren, a settlement just 5 kilometers south of the border. The area is hilly and green, Provence style, and not far from there, there are interesting ruins of a crusader castle atop a ridge, the Montfort fortress.

El Namroud arak bottles Arak had just a few years ago an image problem in Israel as it was kind of a symbol of the cheap booze favored by uneducated Sephardi jews, with the younger generations of Sephardi distancing themselves swiftly from this stigma of shame. Then recently the Sephardi became more respected, the arak quality improved, or the other way arouund, whatever, Arak became fashionable as Israeli widened considerably the range of their alcohol drinks. But keep in mind that the best-selling booze in Israel is neither arak or wine, but vodka, and the high percentage of immigrants from the Russian sphere probably has a lot to do with that.
I didn't know anything about arak, but I now know that it is a cousin of our French national drink Pastis, this famous Mediterranean anise drink which is now not only drunk in Provence but all over the country. Like the Pastis, arak turns mysteriously from colorless to white when getting its water addition, and it gets way more drinkable and light. There are equivalent of Arak all around the Mediterranean and we tasted one from Turkey (named raki) last april as B. and I visited a Turkish-born friend living in Aix en Provence (and who told us by the way that even in Istambul the islamist pressure made raki now impossible to find in non-tourist local cafés). I had noticed at the time the similarity of this arak with Pastis (although I recognize I virtually never drink Pastis).
Here are a few interesting sentences about the subject found on the now-offline mylibya.org website :

In the old days Anise was often prescribed as a laxative and known for it's relaxing characteristics and, as such, embraced by liqueur distillers in early times. In 1755, it was Marie Brizard whom made a sweet anisette in Bordeaux, France, but the famous Absinthe, with a much stronger anise taste, came from Jura, a mountain range on the border between Switzerland and France. It was Henri-Louis Pernod, the founder of the Pernod company, that made this absinthe elixir, mixed with water, a great success all over the world.
Around 1915, when Absinthe became the scapegoat of the temperance movement, it was labeled as the root of all evil. Almost immediately after the prohibition of absinthe the pastis was first made. This drink is colored and caramel has been added for taste, but the main characteristic is still the anise taste. Pastis is still the most consumed spirit in France, today. Our guest in the distillery The name of the distillery, El Namroud, means Nimrod in arab, Nimrod being a biblical figure symbol of power and rebellion.
We're received by someone in charge, there's a shop and they probably sell also a lot here even if the brand is now well advertised and distributed throughout Israel. Our guest explains to us how they work. The distillery is still very artisanal even though it reached a certain size, and now the Israeli arm of Coca Cola has become an important partner of the distillery, but they keep working their way. First, they keep by the rule which states that real arak is made from white grapes, not cheaper alternatives. They use a destemmer to keep the grapes only. The more sugar the grapes contain, the best it will be because it will translate in more alcohol. They don't add yeasts but let the fermentation unfold by itself, waiting that the sugar level reach zero. Line of distillers When the grapes have finished fermenting, they begin the distillation process. This is a similar scheme from the one I reported when visiting this micro distillery in Burgundy a year ago, just that the copper alambics are shaped differently. You can see here these gas-heated distillers with their respective beak pointing to the cooling container through which the condensation of the alcohol will take place. When we visited, there was no activity as it was too far a season from when the grapes are still available, but when they all steam in parallel, that must be impressive and the area around the building must exhale tenacious smells. Then they'll add the aniseed that they import from Syria as this is where the best quality aniseed is found. There's obliged to buy it through a third party as there's no economic relations between Syria and israel. It's not clear if some of the arak is produced with a single distillation, our guest says that on some occasion they distillate 2 or 3 times the same batch. They reach 60 ° in alcohol on average in alcohol, but they dilute the arak to about 40 °. Stills and condensers As you see, the condensers are basically large tanks where tap water flows, this is the traditional way of distilling alcohol. and the facility was standing still at this season because there's no grapes available, so in this regard, this is also a very traditional way to work, compared to industrial alcohol companies which find way I guess to work with substitutes. Here the season they work begins in october and lasts 3 months. I remember now Djaoui, the arab vineyard worker near Hebron who told me I could come any time in autumn until december because there were grapes all that time. The stills viewed from the back Now the grape variety they work with is named Dabouki, I'm told that the Dabouki grapes are very juicy and have big seeds, they're excellent table grapes. You can see how it looks on this Palestinian blog page about a grower and his vineyard near Hebron. The name of each variety is posted above the pictures, not below. You can see that the grape is long and generous. Other pictures show the vineyard, which is trained so as to form a roof of foliage (very similar to the vineyards in Japan). I would have liked to meet this grower for sure.
El Namroud also makes arak from other fruits, like date, plum and even fig. The latter alcohol is named Boukha and it is a traditional drink in Tunisia. Visitors from the Jerusalem area At one point, our guest was distracted by the arrival at the distillery of a busload of visitors coming from the Jerusalem area. They were a joyful party, happy to taste arak and buy a few bottles. They first listened to the presentation of the distillery and watched a video with what I think was a TV report and interview of the founder and an employee.
After they left, we taste arak in a small disposable plastic glass. It is 50 proof arak which went through a triple distillation. Vey strong but, well, seems good and this anis aroma is impressive. I thing I'd had prefered to taste it with water but didn't dare to ask.
A last detail for the jewish amateurs : the arak is kosher here.

El Namroud arak is distributed throughout Israel by IBBL Spirit Limited, a subsidiary of Coca Cola (the labels are in Hebrew, Arabic and English). It is also widely exported. You find it also in bars like you can see on the drinks list of a Tapas Bar in Beer-Sheva (southern Israel), where at the Anise chapter it can be found along with Absinthe and Pastis, it is priced at 26 Shekels (5,3 € or 7,6 USD) by the glass.
I don't know about the price in the shops but a bottle of Arak costs 65 Shekels at the distillery (13 € or 19 USD).

El Namroud Moshav Goren Goren Industrial Park phone + 972 4980 7138 Open sunday to friday

Olive stand at the Carmel market (Tel Aviv)

Comments

[Natanel]

I'm in the USA and would like to purchase some Kosher Arak. Where can I order it from? Thank you...

[Richard Laurence]

I was recently in Jerusalem and had a glass of your Arak at a dinner at Tali Friedman's Atelier. I could not find any
in the little time I had before I left, but now that I have returned to Los Angeles, I would like to buy some.
Where can I find/order it?

Richard

[Joshua]

I am In New York and will like to have a case of this arak , I received it a bottle as gift because I am Lebanese and my father is from Zahle born . So please let me know where we can buy it in the USA or in Israel no problem , I have always friends coming from there , thanks. Joshua

[john chamaty]

I AM IN ARIZONA USA .I LIKE ISRAELI ARAK MADE IN ZHRON YAAKOV CAN TOTAL WINE IMPORT THIS ARAK FROM ISRAEL THANK YOU!!!

[Ezra Ash]

i would love to buy some of your ARAK , i have tasted it and it's the closest taste to the Arak my late father and grandfather made in our basement in Brooklyn N.Y.,U.S.A. Please tell me where i can purchase your product in New York

[Ezra Ash]

where can i buy in New York U.S.A.

[Remon lazar]

Hi is it available in australia any resellers

[M. Chame]

Great description. The grape of choice for making Lebanese Arak is the Obeidi (or Obaydeh) variety.
I wonder why, during the degustation, Arak was served neat. Lebanese people never, ever, drink Arak straight. If it's a 40% APV (alcohol per volume) Arak, two parts plain water are added to one part Arak. And ice is added ALWAYS at the end! ALWAYS.
If it's a 53% Arak, three parts water are added, then ice.
Arak is enjoyed slowly sipped to accompany Lebanese food, mainly Mezze. It's not a drink used for doing shots, like vodka or tequila.