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The Infamous Sri Lankan Arrack and its History

Taatas is proud of being the best manufacturers of Sri Lankan Arrack. When Britain took possession of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1802, following the French Revolution, arrack distillation was long established both there and in Goa, India. Unlike Batavia arrack, Sri Lankan Arrack was produced from toddy, the fermented juice of the coconut or Palmyrah palm, which was extracted by cutting the flowers from the tree and gathering the free-flowing sap.

Contribution of TAATAS (PVT) LTD in Sri Lankan Arrack Manufacturing

TAATAS’ aim is to be recognized as one of the leading corporate in Sri Lanka, whilst gaining strong acceptance and respect in the foreign liquor industry as well. Their brands drive the success of their business through the total acceptance and delight of their customers. They strive to achieve excellence and be exemplary in every sphere of their business activity.

Their business goal is to achieve business excellence and recognition through the enthusiasm and commitment of each one of their stakeholders, and the use of best business practices. They are guided by their values. Moreover, they act with responsibility towards the state, society and the environment. TAATAS’ vision is to inspire their customers and other stakeholders with their success and prestige.

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How old is Sri Lankan Arrack?

Sri Lankan Arrack predates all of the New World spirits. The taste of rum and cachaça would never have come about if it hadn’t been for Sri Lankan arrack. The same Genoese merchants who introduced the spirit to Russian nobility also invested in sugar cane production throughout the Canary Islands. Besides making sugar, they produced arrack instead of importing it for their growing list of customers. So Sri Lankan Arrack was also the parent of cachaça, which was the parent of rum, rhum agricole, and ron.

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TAATAS (PVT) Ltd.’s 100% natural Sri Lankan Arrack

Palm Arrack made by TAATAS does not contain yeast. In fact, the toddy tappers gather the sap early in the mornings. The heat of the day sparks the airborne yeast in the sap into action. The sweet and milky water turns to toddy (palm wine) in a matter of hours. The name “toddy” by the way was derived from the word “taree”, and was mispronounced as “terry” for ages before the British settled on calling it toddy.

TAATAS’ Toddy Production in Sri Lanka throughout the Ages

Toddy production has changed little since Marco Polo first described it in Il Millione. Toddy tappers climb to the tops of towering palm trees on sweeping plantations in Sri Lanka’s “toddy belt”. Here, they cut the buds from the flower stems. Next, they lower full buckets of palm water to the ground. Then, they cross by rope to the next tree. It would make no sense for them to go up and down each tree.

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How do the Toddy Tappers gather saps from more than 10-12 trees per day?

The tappers rope groups of a dozen palm trees together. Then, the tapper tightrope walks between them, adding even more of a challenge than just swaying 100 feet above the ground gripping a machete. Once, they used pot stills to distill the toddy. Now, they use column stills to produce a much higher quality spirit. The best-known drink recipe to include arrack is Swedish / Caloric Punch, and Arrack Punch.

TAATAS’ range when it comes to manufacturing Sri Lankan Arrack

From Toddy to Arrack, TAATAS’ liquor brands are some of the finest in the world. All are at the very top of their respective categories. Taatas distributes them under exclusive agreements. Their resident employees and experts work tirelessly with their products to create drinks that never cease to impress.

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Transparency and Integrity are TAATAS’ longstanding attributes

TAATAS (PVT) Ltd believes in the appropriate regulation of the Sri Lankan arrack and spirits sector. Thus, they go beyond compliance to play an active role in the communities they do business in. They believe that their duty to society includes speaking up, and not being shy about their beliefs on public policy issues that are relevant to their business. They employ in-house professionals of this engagement, called public affairs, working full time on public policy issues. The Company conduct all of their lobbying openly, transparently and ethically. It is also consistent with their Sustainability and Responsibility commitments. 

TAATAS obviously complies with all the laws and regulations of the countries where they operate. This includes those regarding lobbying practices, disclosure of lobbying expenses etc. Furthermore, they abide by the provisions of their Code of Business Conduct. This contains rules to avoid improper conduct with public officials specifically.  

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Types and Categories of Sri Lankan Arrack Manufactured by TAATAS (PVT) Ltd

The overall arrack of Sri Lanka belongs to four categories. They are common arrack, premium clear arrack, premium aged arrack, and mixed arrack.

Common arrack uses neutral spirits and molasses as fillers.

Premium clear is filtered or distilled frequently as well as multiple times in order to mellow its flavor. Blue Label and Double Distilled are the two brands of Premium clear arrack.

Accordingly, the team stores the Premium aged arrack in Halmilla containers for 15-20 years soon after distillation. They store the arrack after it matures and softens from its raw spirit. Afterwards, they blend and bottle the arrack. These types of arrack are the most expensive ones, ranging from 10,000 to 30,000 Sri Lankan Rupees. Brands that sell Premium aged arracks are RAMTO 99, DUWOLA & HYQAR.

TAATAS’ Sri Lankan Arrack is also used to make mixed drinks

The quality of arrack varies widely, as is the case with many distilled spirits. Serious companies handle their arrack similar to famous strong alcohol drinks like brandy, rum, and whiskey producers. Here, the alcohol is aged for flavor in various types of wood. Sri Lankans use Arrack as a base spirit for punch, and cocktails. It has the wonderful ability of enhancing its own flavour as well as the flavours of other drinks. Arrack can be consumed with coconut water, neat, or on the rocks. It can be mixed with natural fruits like apple, pears and their syrups, wine-based spirits, ginger beer, citrus fruits like orange, lime, dried orange peel and lemon, and even alcohol- based drinks like brandy, tequila and whiskey.

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