Raki in Alberta

There is a drink that has flowed through the veins of empires. Raki — spirit of the lands of Asia Minor — was born in the ancient distilleries of Anatolia, refined through centuries of Ottoman court culture, and carried across the Bosphorus into the waterfront meyhanes that define Istanbul’s soul. It is not simply alcohol. It is a ritual, a language, and an invitation.

Raki belongs to one of the world’s oldest spirit families — kin to the arak of the Levant, the ouzo of the Greek islands, the mastika of the Balkan heartland, and the sambuca of southern Italy, last but not least pastis in France. But raki stands apart: distilled from grape pomace and double-infused with aniseed, it blooms opalescent white the moment it meets water — a transformation the people of Anatolia have long called Lion’s Milk.

For centuries it shaped life along the Bosphorus — poured at diplomatic tables, celebrated at family milestones, savoured by poets at dusk. Now Pera Orient Express brings that tradition to Alberta.