Flores-Indonesia's Wine Tasting With Gerard

MOKE: Flores Style Friendship Drinks

FLORES’ WINE, locally known as Moke or Arak or Tuak. This virtual wine tour aims to discover the joy of tasting arak from the island of Flores, Indonesia. You will see and learn a series of arak-making processes both from lontar palm tree (Borassus flabellifer) and from Aren palm tree (Arenga saccharifera). The process starts with the preparation of working tools such as sliced knives, wooden tongs, containers for holding raw wine, then climbing palm tree, working on top of the palm tree, climb down the palm tree with container filled with raw wine, then continued with distillation process the arak in the huts to produce steam that comes out thru bamboo pipe and become alcoholic wine between 20 - 35 percent.

Flores is blessed with fertile land, abundant resources, and beautiful natural scenery. There you will find friendly and humorous people. Flores people no matter who you are, where you come from, what tribe, what religion, color and language you are, you will always be greeted with respect and the way you are.

Apart from having world-class tourism objects and attractions such as Komodo National Park--the Komodo Dragon, Kelimutu National Park with three crater lakes, each filled with water of different colors, Flores HOBBIT in Liang Bua Cave, Maumere Bay and Underwater Marine Park, Bena and Waerebho Traditional Village "Living Museum" and so much more..., Flores also has a culinary wealth that is no less delicious, such as Fish Soup in Tamarind, Lawar or fresh vegetables with peanut sauce, Smoked Tuna in Santan Soup, Cassava Noubosi, Porridge and many more.

And what is most unique about Flores Island is Lontar (Borassus flabellifer) and Aren (Arenga saccharifera) Wine or what is widely known throughout the island of Flores as Moke, Tuak or Arak, a type of alcoholic drink made from palm fruit or flowers.

All over the island of Flores the drink moke has many names such as Moke, Tuak, Sopi and Dewe, but the most familiar is Moke. Moke is not just a drink but has a very high cultural, economic and social value. Moke is a symbol of customs, a symbol of friendship and association between people.

Moke Moke is made traditionally and is a legacy that must be passed on to posterity. Generally this drinks is distilled in farmers' gardens using traditional equipment that is fully assembled and strong. Among them are like the main container in the form of a drum (previously our parents used to use an earthen pot) and 2 or 3 bamboo sticks each 8-12 meters long which are specially joined and glued using lontar fruits so that the distillation steam does not leak out at all.

Making a tavern requires patience and special skills. There are different types of arak or moke; ranging from regular moke, red moke to moke with the highest alcohol content which is very hard reaching 42 - 50%. Especially for moke with a high alcohol content, people usually call it "BO" or Burn on.

In Flores, Moke is very easy to find, available in various corners of the city and in villages along the island. In addition to ordinary moke with a low alcohol content of 20%, there are also those that are harder with an alcohol level of between 32 - 45% and people like to add them with traditional ingredients into the bottles or containers of tuak such as ginseng, fawn (baby deer), foal of seahorse, dick crocodile, paria roots and fruit and so on as immersion. The effect is not to get drunk but to add a sense of freshness, body fitness, increase vitality and for health.

The taste is strong and fragrant, making tuak/ moke the most delicious drink at various events such as family gatherings, welcome parties, weddings, and so on. The joy of moke lies not in taste alone, but how to drink it, with whom, where, and with what you drink it--that's the secret to enjoying tuak as the most delicious drink.

Who are you drinking with? Moke tastes great when drunk together, sitting in a circle. You will enjoy moke with a full sense of kinship, a sense of brotherhood, the typical hospitality of the Flores people, chatting honestly and of course with their own distinctive humor. Familiarity will keep you from getting out of the circle.

Where are you drinking? Tuak will not taste good if it is drunk in the house, room, or a closed room. You will feel the sensation of drinking tuak when you are with other people outside the room such as under a shady tree, on the beach or in the yard, of course, while sitting in a circle.

What do you drink with? You will not enjoy tuak without snacks such as peanuts, mango, tamarind fish sauce or what the Maumere people call 'lepeng'. Lepeng or friends to drink the most distinctive and delicious tuak are Fish Soup, Grilled Fish, Goat Soup, Grilled Banana and Tomato Sambal.

Fresh fish soup, for example, will be felt when it enters the throat, then followed by an injection of a glass of tuak which will feel warm on the body and coated with roasted banana dipped in tomato sauce, make you sweat, delicious... and feel the world belongs to you alone...