Page 32 - AT

A32 FEATURE
Friday 1 November 2019
Canadian Arak resurrects bygone Persian drink era

By KAMRAN JEBREILI an culture," he added. "I
Associated Press noticed a big challenge
PETERBOROUGH, Ontario ahead of me and planned
(AP) — Long before its tee- to prove them wrong."
totaler Islamic clerical rulers Alcohol consumption is for-
banned the consumption bidden under Iran's Islamic
of alcohol, Iran had a vi- Shariah law and it is illegal
brant drinking heritage. for the majority of Iranian
In fact, as early as 550 BC, Muslims. The crime is typi-
King Cyrus the Great and cally punishable by lashes
his Persian lawmakers were and cash fines.
said to get drunk before Still, bootleg alcohol can
deliberating important be found in underground
decisions and then de- markets. Iran's National
bate them again the next Emergency Services says
day while sober. If they still 27 people died last Sep-
agreed, the new law was tember and more than
passed. It spawned the Per- 300 were hospitalized after
sian saying "Masti O Rasti," drinking tainted bootleg.
meaning "drunkenness and In this April 12, 2019 photo, an employee prepares to fill bottles of ‘Arak Saggi’ at the Persian Em- Iran has a rich history in
truthfulness." pire Distillery in Peterborough, Canada, about 130 kms (70 miles) northeast of Toronto. wine making. Six ancient
The motto is printed on the Associated Press clay jars were discovered
backside of the bottles of by a team of American ar-
"Arak Saggi," a top-notch Iran in the 1950s and fea- in Vancouver with just $50 grappa, the Italian grape- chaeologists at a site in the
triple-distilled Arak creat- tured a dog on its label. in his pocket and applied based brandy. Traditional Zagros mountains in north-
ed by an Iranian ex-pat in Khabbazi figured it would for asylum. Arak — the translucent, ern Iran in 1968 and chemi-
Canada looking to resur- loom large in the pre-1979 In Canada, he changed white and anise-flavored cal analysis on one of them
rect his homeland's alcohol Islamic Revolution memo- his name from Behrouz to liquor similar in taste to the revealed that a dark stain
culture. ries of many Iranians. Bruce and went to college Greek ouzo or Turkish raki — at the bottom was wine res-
"I was looking for something Born in Shiraz to a family before getting back into is very popular in the Mid- idue. The jars date back to
extraordinarily unique and with more than 125 years the food business. Eventu- dle East. the Neolithic period more
I found the slang of a tra- in the food industry, Khab- ally he shifted into alcoholic Khabbazi lives with his wife than 7,000 years ago and
ditional popular Arak," said bazi started his own chew- beverages and established and two daughters in Pe- provide the first scientific
Bruce Khabbazi, a 50-year- ing gum packaging busi- his Persian Empire Distillery terborough, Ontario, about proof of wine production in
old Iranian-Canadian en- ness when he was just eight as just the second craft 125 kilometers (78 miles) the region in antiquity.
trepreneur who established years old. At 16, he fled Iran distillery in Ontario. His first northeast of Toronto, where The 1979 Islamic Revolu-
the Persian Empire Distillery to avoid fighting in the Iran- product was pomegranate his distillery and liquor shop tion put an end to that and
in 2006. "I felt the need to Iraq war and because he liquor. He now showcases are located. He hasn't sent the liquor culture deep
give this drink an identity said he saw no future for three brands with the com- been back to Iran since underground. For several
as well as originality. My young Iranians after the bined 40 products, which fleeing in 1987, though he years, Armenians were the
task became Introducing revolution. After a harrow- are available in the U.S., hopes to visit one day. main distributers of home-
Arak Saggi to the world as ing journey, in which he Canada, Europe and Aus- When he first got his liquor made Arak in Iran until the
a classic alcoholic drink of was briefly taken by human tralia. license in Canada, Khab- foreign-labelled bottles
Iranians." traffickers in Pakistan and Perhaps his most prized bazi said he was told that started to be smuggled in.
Arak Saggi means "Doggy then dyed all his exposed concoction is Arak Saggi, a "Persians are Muslim, and Here's a gallery of images
Arak," in a nod to the nos- hair blond to pose as a liquor made of raisin paste they don't drink." of Arak Saggi from AP's Per-
talgic spirit of the same Westerner, he made his imported from California "This was to me a lack of sian Gulf Photo Editor Kam-
name that was popular in way to Canada. He landed that has a taste similar to knowledge about Irani- ran Jebreili.q

In this April 12, 2019 photo, an oak barrel holds aged 'Arak Saggi,' at the Persian In this April 12, 2019 photo, an employee checks the alcohol distilled from raisin
Empire Distillery in Peterborough, Canada, about 130 kms (70 miles) northeast paste imported from California, used to make 'Arak Saggi,' at the Persian Empire
of Toronto. Distillery in Peterborough, Canada, about 130 kms (70 miles) northeast of Toronto.
Associated Press Associated Press