The spirit made from fermented coconut-flower sap and popular in South Asia is arrack.
Arrack is a family of distilled alcoholic drinks associated especially with India, Sri Lanka, and Southeast Asia. In the Sri Lankan tradition, toddy tappers collect sap from unopened coconut flower clusters. The sugary liquid begins fermenting naturally into toddy, which is then distilled into coconut arrack.
Sri Lankan arrack is often aged in wooden vats, including halmilla-wood containers, and can develop floral, rum-like, or cognac-like notes. Commercial versions commonly range from about 33% to 50% alcohol by volume. Other regional forms differ significantly: Batavia arrack from Indonesia may involve sugarcane products, red rice, and botanicals rather than a purely coconut-based process.
The key distinction is between arrack and arak. Arak usually refers to an anise-flavored grape spirit from the eastern Mediterranean, while arrack is the broader South and Southeast Asian category. It is also not the same as toddy: toddy is the lightly fermented sap, whereas arrack is the distilled spirit made from it.