Joseph Gold Arak: Elite and Alouf, and Which One to Buy
Two bottles from the same Israeli house sit next to each other on the arak shelf: Joseph Gold Elite and Joseph Gold Alouf. They look almost identical, they are a dollar apart, and nobody explains the difference. People search for one or the other by name every week. Here is what separates them.
Who Joseph Gold is
Joseph Gold & Sons has been distilling in Israel since 1824 — seven generations of the same family making the same drink. Arak is the Levantine anise spirit: a clear grape distillate flavoured with aniseed, bottled strong, and drunk cut with water. It is the local cousin of Greek ouzo, Turkish raki and French pastis. If you want the background on the category itself, we wrote what is arak.
Elite
Elite is the house's standard bottling and the one most people mean when they ask for Joseph Gold. Clear, 40 percent, pure anise on the nose. In the glass it is bright and licorice-sweet up front, warm through the middle, with fennel and a touch of cardamom underneath, then a clean dry finish and a long anise echo.
- Joseph Gold Elite Arak, 700ml, $23.99 — Kosher for Passover.
One word of warning about the name. "Elite" on an arak bottle has nothing to do with Elit, the Stolichnaya vodka, and nothing to do with Israel's Elite coffee and chocolate company. Three different products, one word. If you searched "elite" and landed here expecting vodka, the Stoli Elit is a different bottle entirely.
Alouf
Alouf is the older-style pour and the stronger one. Triple-distilled from grape spirit and Mediterranean anise on the family recipe, bottled at 100 proof — 50 percent, a quarter stronger than the Elite. Star anise, fennel and licorice root lift out of the glass with black pepper and dry herbs behind them, and it finishes drier and more herbaceous than the Elite does, with black licorice and a little citrus peel.
- Joseph Gold Alouf Arak, 750ml, $24.99 — Kosher for Passover, OU.
So which one
Buy the Elite if you are new to arak or buying for a table where not everyone drinks it. It is softer, sweeter and more forgiving, and at 40 percent it takes water well without disappearing.
Buy the Alouf if you already drink arak and want the version with a backbone. The extra ten points of alcohol carry the anise further and hold up better against ice, which matters, because arak is almost always drunk diluted and a weaker arak goes watery fast. This is the one the old-timers pour.
A dollar is not a real difference in price. Pick on strength.
How to pour it
Arak goes cloudy when you add water — one of the anise compounds will not stay dissolved once the alcohol drops, and it turns milk-white in the glass. That is the louche, and it is the point, not a fault.
The order matters. Arak first, then cold water, then ice — one part arak to one or two parts water. If you put the ice in first, the surface of the arak freezes the oils into a scum instead of clouding cleanly. Use a tall glass and do not stir hard.
Drink it with food, not before it. Hummus, labneh, baba ganoush, olives, grilled fish, kebabs. It is the Shabbos-afternoon drink for exactly that reason — it works over a long table with small plates on it and it does not need anyone to concentrate.
The rest of the arak shelf
If neither of these is what you are after, the other names worth knowing:
- Askalon Arak, 750ml, $22.99 — the plainest, most traditional Israeli arak of the group.
- Zachlawi Classic Arak, 750ml, $34.99 — the American house, cleaner and more polished.
- Zachlawi Fig Arak, 750ml, $36.99 — fig rather than pure anise, and the easiest one to hand to somebody who says they do not like arak.
- Ouzo 12, 750ml, $21.99 — the Greek version, sweeter and softer.
The whole shelf is at ouzo and arak.
Common questions
What is arak made from? Grapes. It is a grape distillate — the same starting point as brandy — redistilled with aniseed. That is why it is not simply flavoured vodka.
Why does arak turn white? The anise oil dissolves in alcohol but not in water. Add water and it comes out of solution as tiny droplets, which scatter light and look milky.
Is Joseph Gold arak Kosher for Passover? Both bottles are marked Kosher for Passover, and the Alouf carries an OU. Check the label on the bottle you receive, as certification is per-batch.
Is arak the same as ouzo? Nearly. Both are anise spirits drunk with water. Ouzo is Greek and usually sweeter; arak is Levantine and drier, and arak is the one built on a grape base.
Either bottle is under $25 and will last a long time, because nobody drinks arak fast. Start with the Elite; graduate to the Alouf.
