“I just had to go there to see it”

One of my co-workers in Japan was from Sri Lanka and I told her about this crazy Mesh & Bone idea and she immediately said, "Arakku!"  I said, "What?", and she began to tell me about her native spirit and I was blown away.  I had never been to Sri Lanka and of course never heard about this drink.  

She said, "they climb these tall palm trees and tap the palm flower with wooden sticks until the nectar comes and then they age it for years until it's perfect to drink"

I didn't even know the palm tree had a flower and would never think one could extract anything that could be distilled, much less drinkable… or even pleasurable.