Skip to content
The Fabled Pour
Email

Country

Lebanon

I have one sourced drink connected to Lebanon. The label on each card says how: where it began, what the country is known for, what people drink there, or where the origin is disputed.

Back to the World atlas

Lebanon on the world map. Boundaries are generalized Natural Earth data.

Drinks of Lebanon

Signature drinks and regional ones, with the evidence behind each. A drink marked non-alcoholic has no alcohol in the traditional serve.

  • Illustration of Arak with Water and Ice: opaque, milky white and cloudy, in a small cup.

    Arak with Water and Ice

    Nationwide; Zahle is called a capital of arak

    IconicSignature drink

    Clear anise-flavored arak diluted with water at about one part arak to two parts water, so it turns milky white, then served over ice in small cups. The water is mixed in an ibrik, a traditional water vessel, and the drink is sipped slowly with a table of mezze.

    Wikipedia calls arak often the national drink of Lebanon, and a Lebanese journal calls it the traditional Lebanese drink. It is made mainly in the Bekaa Valley with grapes and anise and distilled three times, and in Zahle it is nicknamed the milk of the brave. Wikipedia says arak is also drunk in Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Palestine and Israel, and the serve is filed once here.

    Made with: arak (anise spirit from grapes), cold water, ice.

    Confidence: highEvidence: lepetitjournal.com (opens in a new tab), en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab), en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab), henryjeffreys.substack.com (opens in a new tab)

Map data: Natural Earth, public domain.