Ksarak Arak

Rating: 12/23 So after literally more than half a year of (off and on) contemplating Ouso Barbayanni, I stumbled upon this bottle of arak. Seeing as I was pretty stumped on rating Barbayanni wthiout concluding my review of it, I decided to buy this so that I had another anise spirit to compare. Hopefully I haven't just doubled my dilemma. N: Similar to Barbayanni with its anise punch, but this has an additional vegetal smell to it. I'm struggling to identify the particular scents (maybe some squash and carrots?), but it's sort of like a bit of unaged rhum agricole was mixed in with the Barbayanni. A waft of melon as well as a tiny bit of dry earthy root. The Barbayanni has a mustiness to it that this has to a much lesser extent. The Barbayanni's mustiness reminds me a bit of what I get from Sipsmith London Dry Gin, but less strong and also without the fishiness. P: At full proof, this comes in hot with a lot of numbing anise. I got a little bit of some other flavor at the beginning, but that was quickly overwhelmed. Barbayanni is not be as strong in alcohol presence or numbing potential, which makes sense considering that its ABV is 43 rather than 53. Once I've had a few sips and the numbingness has taken control, I can start to taste some of that vegetal character, with squash being the main player. I get very faint suggestions of melon at points. That mustiness does make it through as well, but it's so faint that it's barely noticeable. F: Bitter numbness. What more do you want from me here? - Conclusion - This comes across as more natural and edgy, sort of like an anise liqueur based on rhum agricole, whereas Barbayanni has more of an almost stuffy musty maturity to it. Neat, I prefer Barbayanni. Its mustiness comes across as more balanced with some nice maturity. It still tastes plenty of anise and it's very numbing. This has a lot more of an alcohol bite and the minimal extra flavor it has doesn't really increase its complexity and is out of balance as well. I think that I'd put this in the 10 to 13 range neat. With water, I do start to actually get that slightly sweet vegetal flavor and that bitter root. In this context, Barbayanni's mustiness and sweetness start to muddle the drink's character, whereas the toning down of this improves its character. And now I'm in that situation I dreaded of needing to figure out ratings for both of these. At the end of the day, I think that the both do good jobs as anise liqueurs once they're mixed with water (which is totally expected). I'm still not a real fan of this category, so that's a bit of a problem. I think that puts a fairly low upper limit on the scores I can give them, but it still leaves me with a fairly broad range. Can I just say "thumbs up if you like anise liqueur" and call it a day? Ksaarak does form a prettier louche though. Hyper watered down, this actually becomes drier and more watery, while the Barbayanni maintains its sweet, musty, balanced profile. Based on all of these different tastings, I have to conclude that Barbayanni is a better drink. I've tried plenty of high proof spirits - often much higher proof than Ksarak - but I found that Ksarak at all stages was haunted by its burn and/or its lack of balance and complexity. Barbayanni had its problems, but it worked out better on average. There might be a sweet spot for Ksarak, but it's probably going to take a lot of work for me to find it. With some water added, this seems like a 12. I can believe somewhat higher or down to an 11, but that's kind of the ballpark I'm in. This never seems like a really solid sipper, especially considering the numbing effect. Overall, it's going to be a 12.