Homegrown bars around Colombo are reinventing arrack, a once-overlooked Sri Lankan spirit - SilverKris

"An open-air lakeside bar inside a swanky hotel that champions Sri Lanka’s native spirit, offering a lively weekend atmosphere with live music, comedy nights and open-air seating. Cocktails are rooted in local memories and flavours — a signature lantern-bulb presentation recreates the gooey dodol confection through a rich mix of arrack, coconut and jaggery, while other drinks pair coconut arrack with ginger and tamarind and use a spicy distillate that evokes achcharu. The menu traces the island’s cultural and regional diversity with creations such as a coconut-arrack, vanilla and bael-flower blend and a northern-style palmyrah-arrack drink that mixes mango chutney, jaggery and tamarind, positioning arrack as a refined, versatile spirit rather than a working‑class staple." - Zinara Rathnayake