September 23, 2020 • 26 mins
Most people have heard of ouzo from Greece, pastis from France or Italian sambuca but few know that they're all derived from the mother spirit, arak - the oldest spirit in the world. Nader Muaddi, a Philadelphia-born Palestinian, is working to change that while restoring arak to it's former glory. Join us as we launch season 3 of Point of Origin, in conversation with journalist Lyric Lewin as she travels to Muaddi's distillery and learn what makes this milky distillate unique.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Product is the oldest spirit in the world. It's the
mother spirit of all spirits. I mean, even the word
alcohol is an Arabic word. It comes from the word
as spirit that was shipped in Plason as far as Mongol. Yeah,
today refer to the category of spirits and itself to Eric.
(00:22):
But Eric in itself is basically a triple distilled great brandy.
It's usually enjoyed with a meal where it slipped slowly
over the course of several hours with different types of
mossad dishes. And it's a tradition in releast that's been
consumed since the night the Tury. Hello. Hello, it's me
(00:45):
west Stone, co founder and Point of Origin host Stephen Saderfield.
It's been a few months since our last podcast. In
the world that we left behind is so so much different.
With more sitting and reading and reflecting in content and plating,
we can start to see plainly the ways in which
our most vulnerable communities have always been the ones most
(01:07):
closely bound to struggles for justice, land, and dignity. There
is much to be garnered and understanding the past. We
believe this so fiercely that we've dedicated our work to
this premise entirely centering concepts like origin, anthropology, and indigeneity.
(01:28):
We considered our role in this moment of social uprising
and the ways in which it is related to our work.
At first, we thought of maybe doing an entire season
through the filter of COVID nineteen or the immense Black
Lives Matter mobilization. But as we started to prepare for
this season, what became clear is that the thing we
(01:51):
do best is also the thing that is the most
helpful in this moment, and that thing is absorbing and
discussing food culture from the perspective of the global and
the historical. We cannot comment intelligently on food, social uprisings, pandemics,
or really anything in between with a perspective that is
(02:13):
not international, intergenerational, and intersectional. So our plan for season
three is the same as the first two, which is
to explore the world of food worldwide, and in doing that,
with the context that we provide and the people that
we learn from, we hope helps us all understand the
(02:35):
parts of our culture that are cyclical and collective, and
how we can learn from past struggles to meet this
moment with unprecedented education and empathy. With that I'd like
to welcome you all to Point of Origin Season three.
(02:55):
We begin with a trip to Palestine to discover the
history behind the lesser known spirit of Iraq. Wet Stone
contributing journalist Lyric Lewin brings us to the Mwati Distillery. So, Lyric,
you went to Palestine and met Notter and spent time
on his land learning about Iraq, it's history and Palestine
(03:18):
and how for not a producing Iraq is a revival
of sorts in terms of the tradition and also the methodology. Yes,
so Eric is a spirit that is traditional in the lavant.
It's distilled from indigenous grapes that are used in winemaking
and infused with aniseeds. It's a really smooth drink with
a kick of licorice to it. Most people are familiar
(03:41):
with Italian sambuca or with uzu from Greece, but not
a lot of people know that those are all derived
from the mother spirit Attack. The history of Iraq is
really interesting because it evolved from the Arab invention of
olymbic distillation around the eighth century, and basically olympics are
these apparatus is used to distill or separate and purify substances,
(04:04):
so they can be made from glass, ceramic, or copper.
And they have two different parts. The bottom part will
sit over a heat source and that contains the substance
that needs to be distilled. And then at the top
is this bulb and tube sloping down and out so
that when the vapors rise and flow through the tube,
they can cool down and condense away from the heat source.
(04:26):
So truly Europe and the rest of the world would
not have their sambuca or uzu without this and scientific
invention from the Levant and Muadi. Attack is made primarily
with the dubuky grape, which is one of many indigenous
varietals in the West Bank. It's a white varietal that's large, round,
sweet and juicy, and Nater wants to make sure that
(04:46):
he has as much juice per grape as possible because
those will have a higher sugar content and that will
yield the higher alcohol content. So in Palastine we have
twenty three indigenous species of grapes, about maybe you say
eight or nine of them are suitable for wine, three
of which are white barrietal. So that I used my attic.
(05:07):
I used primarily the bookie Um but there's also from
Danny and Genderly. The Genderly you can tell that the
berries are smaller, but they're much sweeter. The traditional way
of growing vines in Palestine is in these beautiful goblet vines.
The farmers grow the vines straight up like a little
tree basically, so there's no trellising, and that way, due
(05:28):
to the harsh sun, the canopies of leaves can serve
his protection for the grapes. Here's what Nater had to
say growing up in the States, for me, like I
had a very bicultural upbringing. Like on week like at school,
we spoke English, but like when I came home, we
spoke Arabic. On the weekends we spoke Arabic. And whenever
we had like public holidays, whether it's Thanksgiving or the
(05:49):
Fourth of July, we always had, like you know, a
small gathering of the Philadelphia Palesine community, and you know
those gatherings, we always had Palestinian food, and we always
had attack attic. It's it's to drink that's aynonymous with
our cuisine, like it goes best with our food, and
we always had Lebanese attic. I don't remember any Palicine
hottic ever being available there and the brands we had
(06:11):
they were good, and we had like a Zook, we
had Massai, a couple of good brands out there, and
I love that for me. Like at the time that
I mean, I'm used to drink whatever, But like over
the years, like I sort of realized that I don't
enjoy beer or wine as much as I enjoy like
when I was drinking, wouldrink whatever, but now like when
you want to drink for pleasure, I enjoy at it
because it just goes best with the food that we
eat here. Coming back here in like two thousand and seven,
(06:35):
like I remember, I couldn't find good addict like I
used to enjoy attic in the States, but like that
act in the local market, it was just like I
don't want to shoot anyone down, but it wasn't on
par like I mean it burnt like going down. It
was just it didn't have the flavor, didn't have viscosity, aroma. Um.
It was just commercial. You can say um. And basically
(06:58):
what I used to do is um. You Lebanese products
coming into Palace thinks Israel lebing On are technically of war.
It's hard to get Lebanese goods into the West Bank
because the West Bank is occupied by Israel. Um. So
whenever I would go to Jordan's, which is you know,
like a couple of hours trip, I would always you know,
pick up some audict at the duty free and they
usually have the popular lebing his brands, and I bring
(07:18):
them in you know, my suitcase or not a duty
free bag or whatever. Um. And sometimes you know, if
I didn't have any on me and I had like,
you know, gathering of friends who wann't to go out
and have a barbecue do whatever. Um, you know, I'd
stopped by a liquor store. You'd always find the local
attic and then you find like one bottle of like
some Lebanese brand, but it would be like a hundred
dollars per bottle, and you know, it got expensive and
it wasn't sustainable. And I figured, you know, if if
(07:42):
if I'm like killing myself the good quality audict, I'm
sure there's other attic lovers like you know, on the
market and want to get it. So I I you know,
I know some friends of mine who only drink exclusively
like myself, and you know they were doing the same
thing more or less, so I figured, you know, but
maybe then it would be a better, are feasible route
for me, just to explore the possibility of trying to
(08:03):
make out. And from there, I just like bought a
bunch of books like that was back in two thousand
ten on Amazon about the stealing and fermentation of grapes
and making brandy. Really I studied how to make corniac
and brandy um, and from there it's like an extra
step how to make adduc um. I spent a lot,
like a whole year basically reading upon it in different
websites forums, getting books off at Amazon. Two thousand eleven,
(08:25):
I purchased like a really little hobby still, like a
small six leader still, and I was making tiny batches.
And from like two thousand you can say was my
first batch, all the way up until about h or
the two thousand, two thousand eighteen, like pretty much two
thousand seventeen, I was making really tiny batches. I was
(08:45):
making like I started out with like twenty bottles and
thirty and forty, made a pop up to about almost
a hundred bottles um. And then I you know, I
was basically trying to get people's feedback at first, and
then I found that, you know, after after I got
a recipe down and people enjoyed it, and you know,
I appopriate at all the feedback that I, you know,
seem to agree with. UM had sent up production a
little bit, and see if I can sell it. You know,
(09:06):
there wasn't interest people are asking me for it, So
I forget if people are asking me for it and
giving it out for free, and mind as well. You know,
see if I can make something out on the side,
maybe one day can make a business out of it,
right like over the because you know, over here there's
a conflict, and you know, people here aren't very wealthy.
There's you have like a very small upper class, and
I get, but majority of people are probably don't have
a lot of money, and there's a middle class fairly
(09:27):
exists here. UM. So I guess commercial producers over the
year they began making like this inferior product that they
call out of And I guess they did it because
you know, if they want to sell, they have to
sell something cheap. They need to sell some of people
can afford to buy, and they cut a lot of
corners and they began using like industrial alcohol and they
would just buy it in like one thousand meter containers.
(09:49):
They'd knock it down as the water, and then they'd
add like anisol flavoring too, like Annis flavor, and it
was just like it was a cocktail operation. They just
mix and bottle and that was it um And that's
what made this inferior product on the market called addict.
But the problem with that is that people got driven
away from Attic. You know, when people have a special
occasion or gathering or they want to get a gift
(10:11):
for somebody, and you know, they want to get something
you know that would you know, reflect upon themselves as
you know, I got you a nice gift or whatever.
They're definitely not probiotic. I mean that the scene is
like the poor Men's drink and you know, the drink
of the masses, and a lot of people got it
went away from it. So I mean, like now people
you know that they have this perception that Attic is
inferior and that if you want to drink something good,
(10:33):
you gotta drink whiskey or tequila, and they went towards
the brown spirits um. So for me, like and then
people they forgot all about like a lot of people
here like even in Palace. I'm surprised, Like you know,
it's the homeland of Addict. They don't even know how
Hoddic is made. They think it comes from Annessey and
they don't know that it's actually a great brandy with
annest flavoring. Um. And to me, I mean, some people,
(10:53):
like my small circle of friends who drink addict, they
were all enthusiastic about it, But the broader people they
just didn't get, like like, why are you making out
of not make something else? And some people, if you're
gonna make experience, go make whiskey. You know, people love whiskey. Um.
But for me, I'm also I'm passionate about, like you know,
upholding our tradition and our heritage. And for me, I
think it's like a travesty to drink whiskey with Palestine,
And truly I want to revive out it. I want
(11:14):
to make out it great again. UM. I love that
because you're almost you had like, on top of everything
else you're doing to make it, you almost had like
a rebranding mission to like rebrand Iraq, to make it
something that you could remind people know this is actually
how amazing it can be. Yeah, I mean one of
my goals I want to make people proud of out it.
(11:35):
I want to revive like auducts, like glory and like
um yeah, I want out to be like, you know,
something of national pride. Um. I feel like, you know,
if we if it's these small things like where we
if we give up on these small you know, parts
of our heritage. You know that all these little bits
like whether it's food or whether it's whatever, I mean,
it makes up it's a fabric of our identity. If
you give up on it, eventually you'll lose who you are.
(11:57):
You lose your culture, you lose your you know, your
sense of self. We have a very rich gold in
a traditions here in Palestine, and in particular like our
our distilling heritage is very unique. I mean, if you
saw on my website, we Arabs in the Van were
(12:18):
the first to create distilling. We're the first to make spirits,
were the first to you know, alcohols. In Arabic word
alcohol comes from ahl eyeliner um. And that's what the
still was created for because it was a must an
alchemist who created it. And you would have never created
for alcohol. Um. But you know, and when I reached
the shores of the Mediterranean. You know, all these countries,
so what is its alcohol? And and now you have
(12:42):
all these different spirits around the world who who you know,
are off shoots of alcohol, whether it's pasties in France
or San Buca and Italy, or Uzo in Greece or
Rack turkeyan Splura and so on. Um so, I mean
all these spirits come from this one mother spirit, which
is adduct, the oldest spirit in the world. And I
just think that, you know, the International Commune knows enough
(13:04):
about the spirit, and I don't think that it gets
the respect that it deserves. So definitely I wanted to
raise you know that the aspect of you know, are
stilling heritage and wanted that to be known. And I
just wanted to I said, I wanted people to know
that I want to the Palestine and the map to
let people in the Palestine produces high quality goods. Regarding
the policine narrative, I don't know. I mean, that's kind
(13:28):
of one of the same for me, Like I mean,
I try to I try not to go into the
politics of the conflict when we talk about my atticum.
I mean like that that's sort of it, Like I
wanted just to put ourselves in the map and let people,
you know, to share our culture with the international community
and um, you know, to share with the internationally, let
the local people see you know, what we can do
with you know, just the little means that we have here.
(13:56):
I mean for me also, like I'm hyper sensitific about
into the conflict. Like not for the fact that you know,
everyone has a political stance. Politics, It's part of our
daily lives. You can think our pastime is sitting around
and talking about politics. Um. But for me, like I
don't want to make it like I don't want to
like ride the conflict, you know what I mean, Like
I don't want to. I don't want to talk about
(14:17):
like I mean sure, like I buy my grapes from farmers,
and I buy my annessey from farmers. My grapes in
particularly come from a problematic area. Um it's scenario where
is really settlements are expanding. And I mean I have
farmers that I buy from who frequently have settlers trustpassing
on their property. They've been subject to a tax, oftentimes
in military events them from reaching their land. But for me,
(14:37):
like I don't want to make it like I don't
want people to. I don't want to exploit the conflict,
like I don't want to make it like part of
my money, Like I don't want people to buy my
product because it's made in Palestine because they like Palestine.
I want to support Palestine for me. I want people
to drink my project because like I want them to
just because they enjoy it. And one of my goals
is to make you know, the Wald's most respected addict,
(14:57):
and I want to do it as executively as possible.
I want people to, you know, I want the quality
to to raise my product. I don't want to you know,
umously like I mean, I don't want people like I
know that sometimes the conflict here can be sexy and
sometimes people might use that when it comes to marketing.
They're goods locally for an international audience. That's not at
all for me. And I'm not even trying to target
(15:18):
international audience for me, like I mean, I'm barely having
um I'm not barely able to meet local demands, like
I released my first batch in in November and now
I'm completely sold out. So Stephen Noder has been working
to triple his output for this year, he went from
using a hobby still in his basement to opening and
renovating his own distillery with certifications and equipment. So in
(15:39):
order to keep up with higher production, he has to
secure more grapes from different Palestinian farmers. When I was
there with him, it was the late September of twentyteen,
and he was checking out the grapes at one of
the farm he uses to confirm that they were ready
for harvest and delivery, and then he took us to
the farm which was an Area C so that is
(16:00):
under Israeli military occupations. So there are a lot of
settlements around there, Israeli settlements who are illegally coming in
and setting up um poems. And it's yeah, he nod
makes it clear he doesn't ever want to to modify
the conflict for his product, but I think it's worth
noting because he has so many more obstacles to overcome
(16:21):
to produce his adduct than than someone else. I mean,
even the farm we were at, just over the fence,
there was an Israeli winery, so they're shipping that out
saying it's Israeli wine, but it's grown and produced on
Palestinian soil. In the West Bank um, which was really upsetting.
But then we got to see the farm where he
(16:43):
harvests from, and then he had this um table set
up with all this mesa and we were able to
eat and drink together, and it was it was absolutely incredible.
But jo Joshi, I live in area see so area
(17:09):
see it's I live in a Palastinian village, but the
area I live in it's under is really military control.
And all of the areas west of where I live,
which are the villages that I'm getting from, they're also
under military control. There are there are like checkpoints in
the area. I live right next to a military base.
But I mean it depends on the situation on the ground.
When things are tense, there'll be a lot more checkpoints,
(17:32):
in sort of flying checkpoints. They'll be stopping people a
lot more often. It's they don't have so many problems
delivering the grapes to me as much as they do
have problems trying to care for the grapes. That's kind
of how I frame it, because I mean, for me,
it's not very for it's like a five minute drive.
I can be like any I can be like more
of my first vineyards Um, but for me, it's more
of a problem for them really, I mean to be honest,
(17:54):
they faced a lot of problems because they live in
like a very sensitive area where is really settlements are
trying to expand and take over as much territory as
they can, so they're constantly having you know, settlers invade
their property, either uprooting vines, tearing down vines, bulldozing vines,
burning vines. Sometimes they're attacked for for being in their land.
(18:14):
They try not to stay out there late, so they
can only work during specific hours out of fear being attacked. Um.
A lot of like the settlements, they have like a
peripheral security or buffer zone, and oftentimes, you know, it's
difficult for them to get into their their vineyards in
those areas because if they do, they might be arrested
by the military. So sometimes they do it unlike you know,
(18:34):
it's the Jewish holiday or if it's a Saturday, it's
the holy day for the you know, so that settlers
there aren't necessarily out it's more safe. They feel more
safe going out to their vineyards that sort of thing. Yeah,
I wanted to I'm obsessed with authenticity and doing things
a traditional way. So in Palestine we have twenty three
indigenous species of grapes about maybe you say eight or
(18:58):
nine of them are suitable for wine, three of which
are white parietals. So that I used my attic. I
used primarily the bookie, but there's also m Danny and genderly.
The genderly you can tell that the berries are smaller,
but they're much sweeter. The sugar component and them is crazy.
You're just talking like roughly, like the sugar apper leader. Um.
(19:22):
But yeah, so I common to check periodically. Every week,
I come and I take samples of all the berries.
I try and get like one from each corner of
an year, one in the center, different areas, and we
decide on a weekly basis which winds the pick and
how we go about. In general, what I do is
I just take the grapes, I crush them, and then
I throw them in barrels. And then after that second
(19:48):
distillation that's the most complicated. Um, then we get in
the third distillation. For the third distillation, I take that
purified spirit, I put it back in the still. Um.
I reduced it down the thirty every time, because more
than year at risk of making an explosion. Um. Yeah,
so I put it back in the steel. Easily it's
about like sevent um, so I water it down to
(20:11):
about thirty. I put it back in the steel, and
then I put aniseed in it. And what happens is
the aniseed as it soaks. I'll let it so for
a period about twenty four hours, it will absorb the
ethanol and it will release annimal, which is anas oil.
And then the next day when I come back and
instill it, basically the anti fall and the ethanol will
(20:32):
be both the vaporizes together simultaneously. And when I cool
that paper back into a liquid, now it's become one
intertwined liquidum, which is the basis of auduct. And then
from there I'll take it. I'll load it into clay casks.
I age it for a year, and roughly after a
year or so, um, I'll just start taking samples towards
(20:52):
the end, like I can dilute it down to strength
which is fift and then from there we have product,
and then I have bottled it. Number. This is a
spirit that we're talking about, right, This is not a
liqueur right because of the alcohol content and production method. Um.
So I'm assuming you had a chance to taste um.
(21:16):
What were I mean? Because you flew halfway around the
world without having tasted this, presumably, so like stories interesting,
but hopefully it was a bonus if you got to
taste it and it was enjoyable. Oh. Absolutely. We had
a truly amazing experience with him while we were there.
(21:38):
So even to set the scene when we first met
up with him in Jerusalem, not ever wanted to take
us to some of his friends businesses too, so we
got to try not only go and experience his um,
his product, but also some of his friends who owned
um ice cream shops where they made Booza ed a Bia,
(21:59):
which is this amazing ice cream that has this elasticity
that I've never experienced before in my life. And we
went to lots of different places and we had canafe
and it was incredible. So all that leading up the
night before we went to the farm where he harvests
his grapes, we went out to a bar that is
the only bar that serves his attic so it was
(22:20):
really cool to get to see it on the shelf.
And then we actually tried a wine that night that
was made from Debuky grapes, so it was cool to
get to experience the full process in that way where
it was like we were tasting the wine from Debuky grapes,
and then the next day we tasted the attic, which
was also made from the Debouky grapes. So when we
(22:41):
went to his distillery, he showed us first he started
the distillery in his basement, so we went to the
basement of his house and from there is when he
made his first batch. And from that first batch he
submitted it to different festivals in London, in Berlin, in
New York and one a word's like right away he
came out of the gate like wanting people to know
(23:04):
like Palestine is a producer of high quality goods. The
drink again, like I said, because it's infused with aniseeds,
it has a light liquorice taste, but it is really
refreshing and with it pairs perfectly with the mesay so
with hummus and with pickles and olives and baba guanusian
warm fresh pieda. It's so so divine. Yes, I love
(23:29):
that over ice. Is that the best way? Yes, you
can serve it over ice. But one of the interesting
things about attack is that when it's bottled. It's a
clear liquid, but when you serve it, you dilute it
with water and it turns into this cloudy liquid and
that's known as the Luche effect. So basically, it's the
spontaneous multification of the essential oil of the anniseed when
(23:52):
it hits the water. So beautiful and I think UM.
You know a lot of people aren't familiar with the
tradition of distilling UM and the parts of the world,
especially when we think of UM, you know, the Islamic community. UM.
(24:16):
We don't immediately in fact, that the we think about
the opposite, which is an absinence from alcohol. So it
is a really important part of UM. The reclamation and
UM fits in so well with the kinds of stories
that we see and cover all over the world, you know,
where indigenousity UM is erased and the fight for it
(24:37):
to be protected or revived. UM is really the cornerstone
of so many producers that we cover. So UM, thank
you for bringing us yet another one. This is a
really great story. It's great to learn about UM, the
indigenous grades, to learn about, you know, how liquor or
spirits are produced UM. Of course, the geopolitical content extend
(25:00):
just the heart and spirit you know, to actually revive
Iraq is really amazing, So thank you for bringing us
this story and we're really excited to see it in
print for volume six as well. Thank you, Stephen. It's
been so wonderful to work with you and your team,
so I'm excited to see it and I'm excited for
not as hard work to be out there for everyone
(25:22):
to appreciate. Thank you so much. To our guest lyric
Lewin and not Amati. You can read lyrics full article
on not and Iroq in the upcoming volume of wet
Stone wet Stone Volume six, which will be released this summer.
(25:43):
We'd also like to thank our incredible podcast producer Selene Glazier. Selene,
you are the best. To our editor and wet Stone
partner and director of video, David Alexander in London. I
appreciate you, Dave. Thanks to our wet Stone production intern
Quentin le Beau, and last but not least, my business
(26:03):
partner Mel She who makes all things at Whetstone possible.
Thank you Mel. We'd also like to thank our partners
in production at I Heart Radio. To Gabrielle Collins, our
supervising producer and executive producer Christopher Haciotis. We'll be back
next week with more from the world of food worldwide.
Product is the oldest spirit in the world. It's the
mother spirit of all spirits. I mean, even the word
alcohol is an Arabic word. It comes from the word
as spirit that was shipped in Plason as far as Mongol. Yeah,
today refer to the category of spirits and itself to Eric.
(00:22):
But Eric in itself is basically a triple distilled great brandy.
It's usually enjoyed with a meal where it slipped slowly
over the course of several hours with different types of
mossad dishes. And it's a tradition in releast that's been
consumed since the night the Tury. Hello. Hello, it's me
(00:45):
west Stone, co founder and Point of Origin host Stephen Saderfield.
It's been a few months since our last podcast. In
the world that we left behind is so so much different.
With more sitting and reading and reflecting in content and plating,
we can start to see plainly the ways in which
our most vulnerable communities have always been the ones most
(01:07):
closely bound to struggles for justice, land, and dignity. There
is much to be garnered and understanding the past. We
believe this so fiercely that we've dedicated our work to
this premise entirely centering concepts like origin, anthropology, and indigeneity.
(01:28):
We considered our role in this moment of social uprising
and the ways in which it is related to our work.
At first, we thought of maybe doing an entire season
through the filter of COVID nineteen or the immense Black
Lives Matter mobilization. But as we started to prepare for
this season, what became clear is that the thing we
(01:51):
do best is also the thing that is the most
helpful in this moment, and that thing is absorbing and
discussing food culture from the perspective of the global and
the historical. We cannot comment intelligently on food, social uprisings, pandemics,
or really anything in between with a perspective that is
(02:13):
not international, intergenerational, and intersectional. So our plan for season
three is the same as the first two, which is
to explore the world of food worldwide, and in doing that,
with the context that we provide and the people that
we learn from, we hope helps us all understand the
(02:35):
parts of our culture that are cyclical and collective, and
how we can learn from past struggles to meet this
moment with unprecedented education and empathy. With that I'd like
to welcome you all to Point of Origin Season three.
(02:55):
We begin with a trip to Palestine to discover the
history behind the lesser known spirit of Iraq. Wet Stone
contributing journalist Lyric Lewin brings us to the Mwati Distillery. So, Lyric,
you went to Palestine and met Notter and spent time
on his land learning about Iraq, it's history and Palestine
(03:18):
and how for not a producing Iraq is a revival
of sorts in terms of the tradition and also the methodology. Yes,
so Eric is a spirit that is traditional in the lavant.
It's distilled from indigenous grapes that are used in winemaking
and infused with aniseeds. It's a really smooth drink with
a kick of licorice to it. Most people are familiar
(03:41):
with Italian sambuca or with uzu from Greece, but not
a lot of people know that those are all derived
from the mother spirit Attack. The history of Iraq is
really interesting because it evolved from the Arab invention of
olymbic distillation around the eighth century, and basically olympics are
these apparatus is used to distill or separate and purify substances,
(04:04):
so they can be made from glass, ceramic, or copper.
And they have two different parts. The bottom part will
sit over a heat source and that contains the substance
that needs to be distilled. And then at the top
is this bulb and tube sloping down and out so
that when the vapors rise and flow through the tube,
they can cool down and condense away from the heat source.
(04:26):
So truly Europe and the rest of the world would
not have their sambuca or uzu without this and scientific
invention from the Levant and Muadi. Attack is made primarily
with the dubuky grape, which is one of many indigenous
varietals in the West Bank. It's a white varietal that's large, round,
sweet and juicy, and Nater wants to make sure that
(04:46):
he has as much juice per grape as possible because
those will have a higher sugar content and that will
yield the higher alcohol content. So in Palastine we have
twenty three indigenous species of grapes, about maybe you say
eight or nine of them are suitable for wine, three
of which are white barrietal. So that I used my attic.
(05:07):
I used primarily the bookie Um but there's also from
Danny and Genderly. The Genderly you can tell that the
berries are smaller, but they're much sweeter. The traditional way
of growing vines in Palestine is in these beautiful goblet vines.
The farmers grow the vines straight up like a little
tree basically, so there's no trellising, and that way, due
(05:28):
to the harsh sun, the canopies of leaves can serve
his protection for the grapes. Here's what Nater had to
say growing up in the States, for me, like I
had a very bicultural upbringing. Like on week like at school,
we spoke English, but like when I came home, we
spoke Arabic. On the weekends we spoke Arabic. And whenever
we had like public holidays, whether it's Thanksgiving or the
(05:49):
Fourth of July, we always had, like you know, a
small gathering of the Philadelphia Palesine community, and you know
those gatherings, we always had Palestinian food, and we always
had attack attic. It's it's to drink that's aynonymous with
our cuisine, like it goes best with our food, and
we always had Lebanese attic. I don't remember any Palicine
hottic ever being available there and the brands we had
(06:11):
they were good, and we had like a Zook, we
had Massai, a couple of good brands out there, and
I love that for me. Like at the time that
I mean, I'm used to drink whatever, But like over
the years, like I sort of realized that I don't
enjoy beer or wine as much as I enjoy like
when I was drinking, wouldrink whatever, but now like when
you want to drink for pleasure, I enjoy at it
because it just goes best with the food that we
eat here. Coming back here in like two thousand and seven,
(06:35):
like I remember, I couldn't find good addict like I
used to enjoy attic in the States, but like that
act in the local market, it was just like I
don't want to shoot anyone down, but it wasn't on
par like I mean it burnt like going down. It
was just it didn't have the flavor, didn't have viscosity, aroma. Um.
It was just commercial. You can say um. And basically
(06:58):
what I used to do is um. You Lebanese products
coming into Palace thinks Israel lebing On are technically of war.
It's hard to get Lebanese goods into the West Bank
because the West Bank is occupied by Israel. Um. So
whenever I would go to Jordan's, which is you know,
like a couple of hours trip, I would always you know,
pick up some audict at the duty free and they
usually have the popular lebing his brands, and I bring
(07:18):
them in you know, my suitcase or not a duty
free bag or whatever. Um. And sometimes you know, if
I didn't have any on me and I had like,
you know, gathering of friends who wann't to go out
and have a barbecue do whatever. Um, you know, I'd
stopped by a liquor store. You'd always find the local
attic and then you find like one bottle of like
some Lebanese brand, but it would be like a hundred
dollars per bottle, and you know, it got expensive and
it wasn't sustainable. And I figured, you know, if if
(07:42):
if I'm like killing myself the good quality audict, I'm
sure there's other attic lovers like you know, on the
market and want to get it. So I I you know,
I know some friends of mine who only drink exclusively
like myself, and you know they were doing the same
thing more or less, so I figured, you know, but
maybe then it would be a better, are feasible route
for me, just to explore the possibility of trying to
(08:03):
make out. And from there, I just like bought a
bunch of books like that was back in two thousand
ten on Amazon about the stealing and fermentation of grapes
and making brandy. Really I studied how to make corniac
and brandy um, and from there it's like an extra
step how to make adduc um. I spent a lot,
like a whole year basically reading upon it in different
websites forums, getting books off at Amazon. Two thousand eleven,
(08:25):
I purchased like a really little hobby still, like a
small six leader still, and I was making tiny batches.
And from like two thousand you can say was my
first batch, all the way up until about h or
the two thousand, two thousand eighteen, like pretty much two
thousand seventeen, I was making really tiny batches. I was
(08:45):
making like I started out with like twenty bottles and
thirty and forty, made a pop up to about almost
a hundred bottles um. And then I you know, I
was basically trying to get people's feedback at first, and
then I found that, you know, after after I got
a recipe down and people enjoyed it, and you know,
I appopriate at all the feedback that I, you know,
seem to agree with. UM had sent up production a
little bit, and see if I can sell it. You know,
(09:06):
there wasn't interest people are asking me for it, So
I forget if people are asking me for it and
giving it out for free, and mind as well. You know,
see if I can make something out on the side,
maybe one day can make a business out of it,
right like over the because you know, over here there's
a conflict, and you know, people here aren't very wealthy.
There's you have like a very small upper class, and
I get, but majority of people are probably don't have
a lot of money, and there's a middle class fairly
(09:27):
exists here. UM. So I guess commercial producers over the
year they began making like this inferior product that they
call out of And I guess they did it because
you know, if they want to sell, they have to
sell something cheap. They need to sell some of people
can afford to buy, and they cut a lot of
corners and they began using like industrial alcohol and they
would just buy it in like one thousand meter containers.
(09:49):
They'd knock it down as the water, and then they'd
add like anisol flavoring too, like Annis flavor, and it
was just like it was a cocktail operation. They just
mix and bottle and that was it um And that's
what made this inferior product on the market called addict.
But the problem with that is that people got driven
away from Attic. You know, when people have a special
occasion or gathering or they want to get a gift
(10:11):
for somebody, and you know, they want to get something
you know that would you know, reflect upon themselves as
you know, I got you a nice gift or whatever.
They're definitely not probiotic. I mean that the scene is
like the poor Men's drink and you know, the drink
of the masses, and a lot of people got it
went away from it. So I mean, like now people
you know that they have this perception that Attic is
inferior and that if you want to drink something good,
(10:33):
you gotta drink whiskey or tequila, and they went towards
the brown spirits um. So for me, like and then
people they forgot all about like a lot of people
here like even in Palace. I'm surprised, Like you know,
it's the homeland of Addict. They don't even know how
Hoddic is made. They think it comes from Annessey and
they don't know that it's actually a great brandy with
annest flavoring. Um. And to me, I mean, some people,
(10:53):
like my small circle of friends who drink addict, they
were all enthusiastic about it, But the broader people they
just didn't get, like like, why are you making out
of not make something else? And some people, if you're
gonna make experience, go make whiskey. You know, people love whiskey. Um.
But for me, I'm also I'm passionate about, like you know,
upholding our tradition and our heritage. And for me, I
think it's like a travesty to drink whiskey with Palestine,
And truly I want to revive out it. I want
(11:14):
to make out it great again. UM. I love that
because you're almost you had like, on top of everything
else you're doing to make it, you almost had like
a rebranding mission to like rebrand Iraq, to make it
something that you could remind people know this is actually
how amazing it can be. Yeah, I mean one of
my goals I want to make people proud of out it.
(11:35):
I want to revive like auducts, like glory and like
um yeah, I want out to be like, you know,
something of national pride. Um. I feel like, you know,
if we if it's these small things like where we
if we give up on these small you know, parts
of our heritage. You know that all these little bits
like whether it's food or whether it's whatever, I mean,
it makes up it's a fabric of our identity. If
you give up on it, eventually you'll lose who you are.
(11:57):
You lose your culture, you lose your you know, your
sense of self. We have a very rich gold in
a traditions here in Palestine, and in particular like our
our distilling heritage is very unique. I mean, if you
saw on my website, we Arabs in the Van were
(12:18):
the first to create distilling. We're the first to make spirits,
were the first to you know, alcohols. In Arabic word
alcohol comes from ahl eyeliner um. And that's what the
still was created for because it was a must an
alchemist who created it. And you would have never created
for alcohol. Um. But you know, and when I reached
the shores of the Mediterranean. You know, all these countries,
so what is its alcohol? And and now you have
(12:42):
all these different spirits around the world who who you know,
are off shoots of alcohol, whether it's pasties in France
or San Buca and Italy, or Uzo in Greece or
Rack turkeyan Splura and so on. Um so, I mean
all these spirits come from this one mother spirit, which
is adduct, the oldest spirit in the world. And I
just think that, you know, the International Commune knows enough
(13:04):
about the spirit, and I don't think that it gets
the respect that it deserves. So definitely I wanted to
raise you know that the aspect of you know, are
stilling heritage and wanted that to be known. And I
just wanted to I said, I wanted people to know
that I want to the Palestine and the map to
let people in the Palestine produces high quality goods. Regarding
the policine narrative, I don't know. I mean, that's kind
(13:28):
of one of the same for me, Like I mean,
I try to I try not to go into the
politics of the conflict when we talk about my atticum.
I mean like that that's sort of it, Like I
wanted just to put ourselves in the map and let people,
you know, to share our culture with the international community
and um, you know, to share with the internationally, let
the local people see you know, what we can do
with you know, just the little means that we have here.
(13:56):
I mean for me also, like I'm hyper sensitific about
into the conflict. Like not for the fact that you know,
everyone has a political stance. Politics, It's part of our
daily lives. You can think our pastime is sitting around
and talking about politics. Um. But for me, like I
don't want to make it like I don't want to
like ride the conflict, you know what I mean, Like
I don't want to. I don't want to talk about
(14:17):
like I mean sure, like I buy my grapes from farmers,
and I buy my annessey from farmers. My grapes in
particularly come from a problematic area. Um it's scenario where
is really settlements are expanding. And I mean I have
farmers that I buy from who frequently have settlers trustpassing
on their property. They've been subject to a tax, oftentimes
in military events them from reaching their land. But for me,
(14:37):
like I don't want to make it like I don't
want people to. I don't want to exploit the conflict,
like I don't want to make it like part of
my money, Like I don't want people to buy my
product because it's made in Palestine because they like Palestine.
I want to support Palestine for me. I want people
to drink my project because like I want them to
just because they enjoy it. And one of my goals
is to make you know, the Wald's most respected addict,
(14:57):
and I want to do it as executively as possible.
I want people to, you know, I want the quality
to to raise my product. I don't want to you know,
umously like I mean, I don't want people like I
know that sometimes the conflict here can be sexy and
sometimes people might use that when it comes to marketing.
They're goods locally for an international audience. That's not at
all for me. And I'm not even trying to target
(15:18):
international audience for me, like I mean, I'm barely having
um I'm not barely able to meet local demands, like
I released my first batch in in November and now
I'm completely sold out. So Stephen Noder has been working
to triple his output for this year, he went from
using a hobby still in his basement to opening and
renovating his own distillery with certifications and equipment. So in
(15:39):
order to keep up with higher production, he has to
secure more grapes from different Palestinian farmers. When I was
there with him, it was the late September of twentyteen,
and he was checking out the grapes at one of
the farm he uses to confirm that they were ready
for harvest and delivery, and then he took us to
the farm which was an Area C so that is
(16:00):
under Israeli military occupations. So there are a lot of
settlements around there, Israeli settlements who are illegally coming in
and setting up um poems. And it's yeah, he nod
makes it clear he doesn't ever want to to modify
the conflict for his product, but I think it's worth
noting because he has so many more obstacles to overcome
(16:21):
to produce his adduct than than someone else. I mean,
even the farm we were at, just over the fence,
there was an Israeli winery, so they're shipping that out
saying it's Israeli wine, but it's grown and produced on
Palestinian soil. In the West Bank um, which was really upsetting.
But then we got to see the farm where he
(16:43):
harvests from, and then he had this um table set
up with all this mesa and we were able to
eat and drink together, and it was it was absolutely incredible.
But jo Joshi, I live in area see so area
(17:09):
see it's I live in a Palastinian village, but the
area I live in it's under is really military control.
And all of the areas west of where I live,
which are the villages that I'm getting from, they're also
under military control. There are there are like checkpoints in
the area. I live right next to a military base.
But I mean it depends on the situation on the ground.
When things are tense, there'll be a lot more checkpoints,
(17:32):
in sort of flying checkpoints. They'll be stopping people a
lot more often. It's they don't have so many problems
delivering the grapes to me as much as they do
have problems trying to care for the grapes. That's kind
of how I frame it, because I mean, for me,
it's not very for it's like a five minute drive.
I can be like any I can be like more
of my first vineyards Um, but for me, it's more
of a problem for them really, I mean to be honest,
(17:54):
they faced a lot of problems because they live in
like a very sensitive area where is really settlements are
trying to expand and take over as much territory as
they can, so they're constantly having you know, settlers invade
their property, either uprooting vines, tearing down vines, bulldozing vines,
burning vines. Sometimes they're attacked for for being in their land.
(18:14):
They try not to stay out there late, so they
can only work during specific hours out of fear being attacked. Um.
A lot of like the settlements, they have like a
peripheral security or buffer zone, and oftentimes, you know, it's
difficult for them to get into their their vineyards in
those areas because if they do, they might be arrested
by the military. So sometimes they do it unlike you know,
(18:34):
it's the Jewish holiday or if it's a Saturday, it's
the holy day for the you know, so that settlers
there aren't necessarily out it's more safe. They feel more
safe going out to their vineyards that sort of thing. Yeah,
I wanted to I'm obsessed with authenticity and doing things
a traditional way. So in Palestine we have twenty three
indigenous species of grapes about maybe you say eight or
(18:58):
nine of them are suitable for wine, three of which
are white parietals. So that I used my attic. I
used primarily the bookie, but there's also m Danny and genderly.
The genderly you can tell that the berries are smaller,
but they're much sweeter. The sugar component and them is crazy.
You're just talking like roughly, like the sugar apper leader. Um.
(19:22):
But yeah, so I common to check periodically. Every week,
I come and I take samples of all the berries.
I try and get like one from each corner of
an year, one in the center, different areas, and we
decide on a weekly basis which winds the pick and
how we go about. In general, what I do is
I just take the grapes, I crush them, and then
I throw them in barrels. And then after that second
(19:48):
distillation that's the most complicated. Um, then we get in
the third distillation. For the third distillation, I take that
purified spirit, I put it back in the still. Um.
I reduced it down the thirty every time, because more
than year at risk of making an explosion. Um. Yeah,
so I put it back in the steel. Easily it's
about like sevent um, so I water it down to
(20:11):
about thirty. I put it back in the steel, and
then I put aniseed in it. And what happens is
the aniseed as it soaks. I'll let it so for
a period about twenty four hours, it will absorb the
ethanol and it will release annimal, which is anas oil.
And then the next day when I come back and
instill it, basically the anti fall and the ethanol will
(20:32):
be both the vaporizes together simultaneously. And when I cool
that paper back into a liquid, now it's become one
intertwined liquidum, which is the basis of auduct. And then
from there I'll take it. I'll load it into clay casks.
I age it for a year, and roughly after a
year or so, um, I'll just start taking samples towards
(20:52):
the end, like I can dilute it down to strength
which is fift and then from there we have product,
and then I have bottled it. Number. This is a
spirit that we're talking about, right, This is not a
liqueur right because of the alcohol content and production method. Um.
So I'm assuming you had a chance to taste um.
(21:16):
What were I mean? Because you flew halfway around the
world without having tasted this, presumably, so like stories interesting,
but hopefully it was a bonus if you got to
taste it and it was enjoyable. Oh. Absolutely. We had
a truly amazing experience with him while we were there.
(21:38):
So even to set the scene when we first met
up with him in Jerusalem, not ever wanted to take
us to some of his friends businesses too, so we
got to try not only go and experience his um,
his product, but also some of his friends who owned
um ice cream shops where they made Booza ed a Bia,
(21:59):
which is this amazing ice cream that has this elasticity
that I've never experienced before in my life. And we
went to lots of different places and we had canafe
and it was incredible. So all that leading up the
night before we went to the farm where he harvests
his grapes, we went out to a bar that is
the only bar that serves his attic so it was
(22:20):
really cool to get to see it on the shelf.
And then we actually tried a wine that night that
was made from Debuky grapes, so it was cool to
get to experience the full process in that way where
it was like we were tasting the wine from Debuky grapes,
and then the next day we tasted the attic, which
was also made from the Debouky grapes. So when we
(22:41):
went to his distillery, he showed us first he started
the distillery in his basement, so we went to the
basement of his house and from there is when he
made his first batch. And from that first batch he
submitted it to different festivals in London, in Berlin, in
New York and one a word's like right away he
came out of the gate like wanting people to know
(23:04):
like Palestine is a producer of high quality goods. The
drink again, like I said, because it's infused with aniseeds,
it has a light liquorice taste, but it is really
refreshing and with it pairs perfectly with the mesay so
with hummus and with pickles and olives and baba guanusian
warm fresh pieda. It's so so divine. Yes, I love
(23:29):
that over ice. Is that the best way? Yes, you
can serve it over ice. But one of the interesting
things about attack is that when it's bottled. It's a
clear liquid, but when you serve it, you dilute it
with water and it turns into this cloudy liquid and
that's known as the Luche effect. So basically, it's the
spontaneous multification of the essential oil of the anniseed when
(23:52):
it hits the water. So beautiful and I think UM.
You know a lot of people aren't familiar with the
tradition of distilling UM and the parts of the world,
especially when we think of UM, you know, the Islamic community. UM.
(24:16):
We don't immediately in fact, that the we think about
the opposite, which is an absinence from alcohol. So it
is a really important part of UM. The reclamation and
UM fits in so well with the kinds of stories
that we see and cover all over the world, you know,
where indigenousity UM is erased and the fight for it
(24:37):
to be protected or revived. UM is really the cornerstone
of so many producers that we cover. So UM, thank
you for bringing us yet another one. This is a
really great story. It's great to learn about UM, the
indigenous grades, to learn about, you know, how liquor or
spirits are produced UM. Of course, the geopolitical content extend
(25:00):
just the heart and spirit you know, to actually revive
Iraq is really amazing, So thank you for bringing us
this story and we're really excited to see it in
print for volume six as well. Thank you, Stephen. It's
been so wonderful to work with you and your team,
so I'm excited to see it and I'm excited for
not as hard work to be out there for everyone
(25:22):
to appreciate. Thank you so much. To our guest lyric
Lewin and not Amati. You can read lyrics full article
on not and Iroq in the upcoming volume of wet
Stone wet Stone Volume six, which will be released this summer.
(25:43):
We'd also like to thank our incredible podcast producer Selene Glazier. Selene,
you are the best. To our editor and wet Stone
partner and director of video, David Alexander in London. I
appreciate you, Dave. Thanks to our wet Stone production intern
Quentin le Beau, and last but not least, my business
(26:03):
partner Mel She who makes all things at Whetstone possible.
Thank you Mel. We'd also like to thank our partners
in production at I Heart Radio. To Gabrielle Collins, our
supervising producer and executive producer Christopher Haciotis. We'll be back
next week with more from the world of food worldwide.
Host
Stephen Satterfield
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