El Massaya Arak

27 August, 2008
Page 21 
Brand owner Massaya & Co

Produced in Lebanon

Sizes 4cl, 20cl, 35cl, 37.5cl, 50cl, 75cl, 150cl

Price £22.99-23.99

Abv 53

Markets US, Canada , France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, UK, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, UAE

Contact: massaya@massaya.com

El Massaya Arak is an aniseed flavoured eau-de-vie from the Lebanon. It is made by brothers Sami and Ramzi Ghosn and two French winemaking families - Fréd éric and Daniel Brunier of Vieux Télégraphe, and Dominique Hebrard, ex-Cheval Blanc, now Château Bellefont-Belcier and Trianon in Saint Emil ion.

El Massaya is made from a base wine of Obeidi, an indigenous Lebanese white grape variety. It is triple distilled in Moorish lid copper stills, which are heated over vine wood embers. Uncrushed green organic aniseed from the village of Hineh on Mount Hermon is added for the third distillation, after which the arak is matured in old clay amphorae for 12 to 18 months. It is bottled, unfined and unfiltered.