My father waited for his children to reach adulthood before he could finally focus on his alcoholic passion: araq, a distilled liquor flavored with aniseed. Araq is widely consumed in Lebanon and interwoven with the country’s conviviality: it is the accompaniment par excellence at banquets and joyous gatherings. My father…

In 1386, Genoese ambassadors came to Moscow and presented the Grand Duke Dmitry Donskoy with a curious beverage called “water of life”. This wondrous drink was in fact distilled liquor, but the Grand Duke and his Russian subjects did not know of alcohol distillation at the time. …

(Note: I am grateful to Dr. Jelena Mrgić and Dr. Gordan Ravančić who responded thoughtfully to the emails of a stranger enquiring about alcohol in the Balkans. All views or errors remain mine.) Many Croatians enjoy sipping a distilled alcoholic beverage called “rakija”, a name they no doubt associate with…

The word “alcohol” is an Arab immigrant that entered European languages during the Middle Ages. Like many other Arabic words, the “al” at its beginning betrays its linguistic lineage[1]. However, were you to sift through the pre-modern Arabic literature, you would never find instances of the word describing alcoholic drinks…

In Lebanon and Syria, people will use the same word to designate “sweat” and an aniseed-flavored distilled drink: “arak” or “araq”, as it is sometimes transcribed in the Latin alphabet[1]. Similar words are used across the planet to describe liquors. Sri Lankans, for example, enjoy the inebriation of their coconut-based…