Top 10 Distilleries in Turkey
Pour a measure of raki, top it with cold water, and the clear spirit clouds instantly to a soft, milky white. This louche — the same phenomenon that veils Greek ouzo, French pastis and Lebanese arak — gives Turkey's national drink its affectionate nickname, aslan sutu, the milk of the lion. Distilled from grapes or raisins and flavoured with aniseed, raki is the spirit of the meyhane, the traditional tavern where slow evenings unfold over small plates of meze, grilled fish and endless conversation. Turkey's distilling heritage is overwhelmingly a raki heritage, centred on Thrace and the Aegean, and shaped for nearly a century by a state monopoly whose name still defines the category.
What raki is — and is not
Raki is a twice-distilled aniseed spirit. The base, suma, is distilled from fermented grapes or sun-dried raisins; this suma is then redistilled in copper pot stills with aniseed (anason) to produce the finished raki, typically bottled between 40 and 50 percent alcohol by volume. The finest expressions, labelled as made entirely from fresh grapes, are prized over those using raisin-based suma. Unlike Greek ouzo, raki uses no other botanicals beyond anise, and unlike Cretan tsikoudia it is always aniseed-forward; the comparison that matters most is with Levantine arak, its closest cousin. The drink is inseparable from its ritual: poured into a tall narrow glass, cut with water and ice, and never drunk on an empty stomach.
Tekirdag and the heart of Thrace
The Thracian region west of Istanbul, and the city of Tekirdag on the Sea of Marmara in particular, is the spiritual home of Turkish raki. Tekirdag Rakisi is among the most famous names in the country, and the surrounding vineyards of Thrace supply much of the grape suma that the best raki demands. This is flat, fertile wine country, historically the most productive viticultural zone in Turkey, and its towns — Tekirdag, Sarkoy, Murefte — have distilling reputations stretching back generations. A raki tasting here is paired, inevitably, with the region's famous kofte.
Yeni Raki and the legacy of the monopoly
For most of the twentieth century, Turkish spirits production was controlled by Tekel, the state alcohol and tobacco monopoly. Tekel's flagship brand, Yeni Raki, became and remains the default raki of Turkey, the bottle on every meyhane table and the benchmark against which others are judged. When the monopoly's spirits business was privatised in the 2000s, the brands passed into private hands but the production heritage — and the recipes — endured. Yeni Raki, Tekirdag Rakisi and the premium Kulup Rakisi together account for the lion's share of the market, and their distilleries remain the industrial backbone of the category.
Efe and the Aegean grape spirits
The Aegean coast, around Izmir and the agricultural plains of Aydin, is the country's other great raki region and the home of Efe Raki, the most prominent independent challenger to the former monopoly brands. The Aegean is grape country par excellence, and Efe built its reputation on raki made entirely from fresh grapes — the gold-standard category — distilled at its facility in the region. The Aegean style is often described as a touch softer and rounder than the Thracian benchmark, reflecting both the grapes and the house distilling character.
The premium tier: Kulup and beyond
Above the everyday bottles sits a premium tier of raki built for connoisseurs. Kulup Rakisi, historically a Tekel premium line, uses a higher proportion of grape suma and a more refined anise balance. Independent and boutique producers have followed, releasing limited-run rakis made from named grape varieties, aged suma, or unusually high anise concentrations. These premium expressions are increasingly the focus of serious tasting culture in Istanbul and Izmir, drunk more slowly and assessed more carefully than the convivial table bottles.
The meyhane and the ritual of the table
To understand raki you must understand the meyhane. These traditional taverns — clustered in Istanbul's Beyoglu district, around Asmali Mescit and the Cicek Pasaji, and in the fish-restaurant streets of Kumkapi — are where raki lives. The drink is never rushed and never solitary: it accompanies a long, layered procession of meze, beginning with cold dishes like haydari, fava and marinated sea bass, moving through hot starters, and culminating in grilled or fried fish. White cheese and melon are the classic, almost mandatory, raki accompaniment. The pace is deliberate; raki is a drink for talking, not for toasting and downing.
Beyond raki: vodka, gin and the new craft scene
While raki dominates, Turkey's distilling landscape is broadening. The former monopoly also produced vodka and other spirits, and a small but growing craft movement has begun experimenting with gin and grape-based spirits aimed at a younger, cocktail-minded urban audience in Istanbul and Izmir. Turkey's grape abundance and its deep distilling know-how give these newcomers a strong foundation, even if raki remains, by a wide margin, the cultural and commercial centre of gravity.
Planning a raki journey
The richest experiences combine the production landscape of Thrace and the Aegean with the table culture of Istanbul. Base yourself in Istanbul for the meyhane scene, then make a day or overnight trip west into Thrace — Tekirdag and the Sarkoy vineyards — to see the grape country behind the glass. On the Aegean side, Izmir and Aydin pair raki with the country's best seafood. Drink it the Turkish way: cut with water, slowly, with food, and never, the locals insist, on an empty stomach.
Explore on the map
From the vineyards of Thrace around Tekirdag to the Aegean grape plains of Aydin and the meyhane streets of Istanbul, Turkey's raki geography is best traced on the map. Use it to plan a route linking the production regions in the west with the drinking culture of the cities. To see how the country sits among its aniseed-spirit neighbours, find Turkey on the map alongside Greece and the Levant.