Rakı goes global

Bottom shelf, back corner.

At last, Mey İçki’s Yeni Rakı has hit the shelves in America. See my post about rakı, Turkey’s national [alcoholic] drink, going global—and if you are American, German, or Russian, give it a try.

Rakı is a liqueur distilled from raisins and infused (heavily) with Anatolian anise. So if you don’t like the taste of black licorice, stay far, far away.

The distillation gives the drink its 90 proof (45% alcohol by volume), and they recommend that you dilute it to between 1/2 and 1/4 with water and ice. If you don’t dilute it, of course, you’re missing out on the real novelty, where the drink turns a milky white, which gives it its colloquial name: lion’s milk.

Drink ice-cold, and enjoy.

Or not.