If you’ve never heard of alcohol made from fresh dates, you’re not alone.
BARHI is a Fresh Date Spritz made by fermenting fresh Barhee dates and honey. It’s dry, lightly sparkling and 6% ABV, with a crisp, refreshing character created to be enjoyed with food.
The ingredients often surprise people. Dates and honey sound as though they should produce something sweet, but fermentation transforms them into a very different drinking experience.
So, what exactly is BARHI?
What Is a Fresh Date Spritz?
Fresh Date Spritz is the simplest way we have found to describe the BARHI experience.
“Fresh Date” tells you where the drink begins: BARHI is made using fresh Barhee dates rather than grapes, apples or grains.
“Spritz” tells you more about what to expect in the glass: something chilled, light, sparkling and refreshing.
BARHI is legally a mead because honey forms part of the fermentation, but it doesn’t fit the sweet, heavy image many people associate with traditional mead. If you’d like to understand the category itself, our guide to what mead is and how it’s made explains it in more detail.
For the person drinking it, though, Fresh Date Spritz is the experience we want the name to communicate.
What Is BARHI Made From?
At the heart of BARHI are fresh Barhee dates and honey.
Barhee dates are known for their distinctive character and are used fresh in BARHI rather than simply as a flavour added to a finished drink.
During fermentation, yeast converts naturally occurring fermentable sugars into alcohol. This transformation is why the finished BARHI tastes very different from simply eating a date or tasting honey.
The result is dry rather than syrupy, with light carbonation giving the drink its refreshing finish.
What Does BARHI Taste Like?
The reaction we hear surprisingly often when somebody first tries BARHI is:
“I thought it was going to be sweet.”
It isn’t.
BARHI is designed to be dry, crisp and refreshing, with light sparkle and enough character to work alongside food without dominating it.
There are two expressions.
BARHI Original is the cleaner and crisper expression, made from fresh Barhee dates and honey.
It is light, dry and refreshing, making it easy to enjoy chilled on its own or alongside a broad range of food.
BARHI Spiced starts with fresh Barhee dates and honey and adds star anise and orange peel.
Those ingredients bring a more aromatic character while keeping the dry, refreshing profile at the heart of BARHI. It works particularly well alongside richer and spice-led dishes.
If you’re trying BARHI for the first time, the choice is really about what you enjoy: Original for something cleaner and crisper; Spiced for something more aromatic.
No. Despite being made from dates and honey, BARHI is fermented dry rather than being designed as a sweet drink. A 330ml bottle contains 1.52g of carbohydrate, all of which is sugar, and BARHI is made with no added sugar.
That’s an important part of the drinking experience. The dates and honey contribute to how BARHI is made, but they don’t translate into a heavy or obviously sweet finished drink. The result is dry, light and refreshing, which is very different from what many people initially expect when they hear the ingredients.
Is BARHI Gluten-Free?
Yes. BARHI is naturally gluten-free.
Unlike conventional beers made using grains such as barley or wheat, BARHI begins with fresh Barhee dates and honey and does not use gluten-containing grains.
You can read more about the ingredients and fermentation in Is BARHI Gluten-Free?
Is BARHI a Mead?
Yes. BARHI sits legally within the mead category because honey is part of its fermentation.
But mead is much broader than the sweet, historical stereotype many people know. It can be dry or sweet, still or sparkling and produced in many different styles.
BARHI takes that fermentation tradition in its own direction by combining honey with fresh Barhee dates to produce a dry, lightly sparkling drink.
That’s why both descriptions matter:
Mead explains the fermentation category. Fresh Date Spritz explains the drinking experience.
For a deeper look at the category, explore What Is Mead?, or see how it compares in our guide to mead, beer, wine and cider.
When Do You Drink BARHI?
BARHI was created around food, so the table is its natural home. The choice between Original and Spiced isn’t simply about whether a dish is mild or spicy; it depends on what is actually driving the food.
BARHI Original‘s clean, crisp and refreshing character works particularly well when chilli heat is one of the defining features of the dish. BARHI Spiced brings additional aromatics from star anise and orange peel and works particularly well with seafood, rich creamy gravies and BBQ, grilled or charred food.
BARHI can also be served chilled as an aperitif, enjoyed at a bar or simply chosen when you want something different from your usual beer, wine or cider. The bigger idea is that BARHI should fit naturally into occasions people already enjoy rather than requiring a completely new drinking ritual.
If you’re interested in why food played such an important role in its development, read Why BARHI Was Created Around Food.
So, What Is BARHI?
The shortest answer is:
BARHI is a Fresh Date Spritz made from fresh Barhee dates and honey.
It’s dry, lightly sparkling, 6% ABV and naturally gluten-free, with two expressions: clean and crisp BARHI Original, and more aromatic BARHI Spiced with star anise and orange peel.
Legally, it belongs to the mead family. In the glass, we think Fresh Date Spritz tells you much more about what you’re about to experience.
And perhaps the best way to understand it isn’t to read another paragraph about it.
It’s to try one.
Discover BARHI Original and BARHI Spiced, or find BARHI near you.
Made for the love of food. Brewed for the celebration of laughter.
