This year marks 20 years since Joseph Abboud opened Rumi, named after the poet who was born in Afghanistan, wrote in Persian and Arabic, and spent much of his life in Turkey – a life that never sat within one border. That’s the idea the restaurant is built on: flavours passed from hand to hand across the Levant, Persia, Turkey and beyond. Arak is at the heart of the region’s dining culture, an essential part of convivial family lunches and festive occasions, poured at almost every Lebanese table.
Since retiring from running fish and chip shops, Joseph’s dad, Jack, has spent years perfecting his own arak recipe – the kind that lived in flagons and demijohns, poured for family, sometimes gifted, but never sold. Now, for Rumi’s 20th year, father and son have bottled it together for the first time with local distillery Bandesh Wine & Spirits.
Just 20 bottles of Jack’s Arak will be released to the public this year, offering a small taste ahead of a larger commercial release planned for 2027. It’s not just about the drink, though the drink is beautiful. It’s a tribute to the classic Lebanese migrant story, representing a progression from the garage to the shelf.
Here’s Joseph now with the download on Big Jack’s Arak.
Give us the elevator pitch. What makes your arak different from every other anise-flavoured spirit on the back bar?
It’s Australian-made, in Victoria – that’s the short answer. There are very few Australian-made araks out there, and this one’s small-batch, made with green Syrian anise. Ouzo, pastis and sambuca all share that same milky louche effect when water hits them, but often contain added sugar. Arak is distilled from wine twice, then a third time with green anise. It’s a spirit made for the table, not the bar, so it’s not shot or shaken into a cocktail, but built for a long, unhurried lunch.
Who are you and what are you all about? Who’s involved in this project, and how long have you been working on it?
The real maker in this story is my dad, Jack. He came to Australia from Lebanon in the 1960s, when he was only about 19, and always drank arak, but didn’t start making it himself until after retirement, drawing on what he’d picked up from my uncles back in Lebanon.
Dad’s been working on the recipe at home for years. When we took it to Farhad Bandesh, a Kurdish winemaker and distiller at Bandesh Wine & Spirits, he adapted it for a contemporary still. The two of them met numerous times to retain the essence of what Dad was doing while making it commercially viable. And legal. No trace of harmful substances. No risk of blindness. Just very good arak. There’s even a little of Dad’s OG spirit in the batch as a form of “father” spirit.
For those of us who aren’t that familiar with arak, what’s the appeal?
It’s a really versatile drink. You can have it before, during or after food, but it should always be enjoyed with food. It’s a great palate cleanser, which is wild given its intense anise flavour and the fact that it’s 52 per cent alcohol, so you need to dilute it with water. People may sip on it right through the whole meal, from small glasses refilled as they go. Arak holds its own against the big flavours of Middle Eastern food, from raw garlic and lemon right through to grilled meat and tahini. It’s also a great digestif.
Explain it like we’re five: how do you make it?
You start by making a wine. Then you distill that wine into a spirit. Then you distill it again, once or twice more, with aniseed. In Lebanon, they’d use indigenous grapes, but we don’t have an equivalent here, so we start with a quality grape-based spirit rather than a sugar-based one. We’ve aimed to stay as true as we can to tradition.
What excites you about this project?
Being able to keep telling the Australian-Lebanese story.
What are the perfect conditions for enjoying Big Jack’s Arak? With what, with whom, where and when? What are we listening to?
The first thing that comes to mind is kibbeh nayeh, the classic Lebanese raw lamb dish, but mostly you’d drink it with barbecue and mezze, from small glasses that get refilled as you go. Enjoyed nice and slow.
Lunchtime into late arvo is when it really hits. It’s a convivial occasion drink rather than something you’d sit down with for a midweek meal. As for the soundtrack, you probably won’t hear much over your aunties and uncles yelling across the table anyway, but if I had to pick, it’d be an Oum Kalthoum record. She’s an Egyptian artist my dad loves listening to.
You’ll always want to dilute it, or “break” it, as it’s called. The traditional pour is one-third arak to two-thirds water, but since you’re mixing it yourself, you can tailor it to taste. Always pour the arak first into a clean glass so you get the full effect of the louche. And water goes in before ice, always. Get that order wrong and every ammo in the room will be coming for you.
Is this here for a good time or a long time? What’s next?
This first batch is a limited run of 20, so right now it’s very much a good time. But the idea is that this marks the beginning, with, hopefully, an annual release. This one’s Jack’s OG, and who knows where it goes from here. There might even be a Little Joe’s Australian take on it one day.
Where can I buy it?
The limited batch of 20 will be released in August and can be purchased online and picked up from Rumi. First, you register your details on the Big Jack’s Arak waiting list, and then we’ll send you a purchase link as soon as we have the bottles in the house. You’ll need to be on that list to be able to buy it. After that, stay tuned.
Join the waitlist to purchase Big Jack’s Arak at rumirestaurant.com.au.