Raki Description and Distinguishing Features of the Product: Rakı is a distinctive, colorless, distilled alcoholic beverage with a minimum alcohol content of 40%, deriving its unique characteristics from natural elements within the borders of the Republic of Turkey, especially grapes grown in Turkey, aniseed, and traditional production methods applied in Turkey. Rakı is produced by distilling suma or suma mixed with agricultural ethyl alcohol, with an aniseed filling volume of 5000 liters or less, using traditional copper stills, and the entire production process takes place within the borders of Turkey. During tasting, it presents a strong anise aroma in the nose, a dense and balanced anisealcohol taste on the palate, accompanied by the aroma of grapes, and leaves a smooth trace in the throat. Grape distillate and aroma compounds from aniseed contribute to the distinctive flavor of Rakı. The specific features that give Rakı its distinct characteristics are outlined below: Traditional copper stills with a filling volume of 5000 liters or less are used in Rakı production. Grape must production, ethyl alcohol fermentation with yeast, suma production, and Rakı production are entirely carried out within the borders of Turkey. At least 65% of the total alcohol taken into the copper still in Rakı production is suma. In addition to suma, it is possible to use agricultural ethyl alcohol, but the maximum allowed percentage of the total alcohol is 35% for agricultural ethyl alcohol. Suma is obtained exclusively from grape varieties grown only in Turkey, including but not limited to Sultani seedless, Round seedless, Dimrit, Akdimrit, Karadimrit, Razaki, Mevlana, Pink Razaki, Dımışkı, Tarsus white, Emir, Narince, Yapıncak, Rumi, Karasakız, Horoz karası, İri kara, Dökülgen, Çal karası, Misket, Kalecik karası, Öküzgözü, and Boğazkere. The distinctive feature of suma compared to other agricultural distillates and agricultural ethyl alcohols is the use of grapes as the sole raw material, and its alcohol content does not exceed 94.5%. Differential distillation is applied to preserve the taste and aroma of grapes. The stages of suma production involve alcohol fermentation, column and/or pot distillation. In the initial stage, Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast with a high ability to produce alcohol is added to grape must. Ethyl alcohol fermentation results in ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide as primary products and aroma compounds as secondary products. Production Method: Obtaining grape must, preparing mash: In suma production, fresh or dried grapes are used.Production of grape must from dried grapes: The safe moisture level for storing dried grapes should be below 14% to prevent mold formation. The sugar content in dried grapes generally varies between 5075% (weight/weight) depending on the variety and quality. After passing through washing and sorting processes, dried grapes are chopped with knives during mashing to facilitate the transfer of sugar to water. The chopped grapes collected in the balancing tank are mixed with water to achieve a sugar content typically around 1517%. Production of grape must from fresh grapes: Fresh grapes are freed from foreign substances, separated and crushed using a stem removal and crushing machine. Crushed fresh grapes are pressed or passed through a bladder press to separate the pomace (skin and seeds), resulting in grape must. The sugar content in grapes can vary between 1125% (714 brix) as the months progress from June to October. Yeast Propagation and Alcohol Fermentation: A twostage yeast propagation process is carried out before proceeding to alcohol fermentation. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is used as the yeast in rakı production.In the fermentation tank, propagated yeast is added, and grape must is introduced to initiate fermentation.Fermentation progress is monitored by recording temperature and density changes. The main products of alcohol fermentation are ethyl alcohol and CO2. Byproducts of fermentation include glycerol, acetaldehyde, higher alcohols, acids, esters, and methanol.