Message 28765 of 39188 in General Discussion

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> Some notes and questions re: Arrack.
> 
> Arrack, or Batavia Arrack, is not to be confused with the similarly 
> named middle eastern anise flavored liquor, Arak.
> 
> Arrack is a liquor produced originally from distilled palm wine.  
> Because palm wine is a pain to deal with, most modern Arrack is made 
> from a combination of fermented sugar cane and/or rice.
> 
> Arrack is one of the main ingredients in Swedish Punsch, another 
> difficult to find classic cocktail ingredient.
> 
> My question is, is there an acceptable substitute for Arrack and/or 
> Swedish Punsch?
> 
> ~Erik

I happen to have a bottle of Arac and I had a bottle of Swedish Punch. They 
are both alike although the Swedish Punch was sweetened and stronger.

The flavour is a lot like rum agricole and I could also associate jamaican rum 
with it. Flavours are hard to describe and as I don't have a lot experience 
with rum I have no idea what kind of terms are used. It is the sweet 
fruity(apricot) fungy flavour which they have alike(although the body is dry). 
Maybe this might give an idea to some. I've also noticed that flavour in 
havana club 3 years. That's much like the Arac I have. Contrary to jamaican 
and agricole the body is light or medium(like that havana club).
I suspect that these rums are fermented for a relative long period. That's how 
you might describe it's flavour, a lot of secondary flavour notes. In wines 
one would describe it as vegetables. Like in some white bourgogne wines.

Here is a link where it can be ordered (I think havana club 3 years could be a 
well substitute though):

http://www.de-ooievaar.nl/gedistilleerd_prod.php?id=154 

translation:

Arak, Arrack, or Arac is a special product. The difference with other rums is 
the fact that the fermentation has been started with red rice. Our arac is 
from Java and is bottled after being kept on oak casks several years. A soft 
but also full rum.