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A Guide to India’s Must-Try Spirits
From the floral notes of mahua to potent millet beer, there are various regional liquors to explore in India.
BY JOANNA LOBO

February 24, 2021
Kinnaur Kailash Sacred Peak India
Getty
India has a long history with alcohol. It’s been consumed for centuries, and there are references to alcoholic fermentation and distillation that date back to 200 B.C.

Today, alcohol in India is broadly categorized as foreign liquor, Indian-made foreign liquor, and Indian-made Indian Liquor (also known as country liquor or desi daaru). Indigenous spirits fall under the country liquor category and are often considered subpar. In reality, they are some of the country's best spirits, and are made by artisans who struggle with selling them due to archaic license laws. These distinctive regional liquors—palm toddy in Kerala, rice beer or wine in the North East, mahua in central India, and cashew feni in Goa—offer wonderful insight into the country’s diverse cultures and local produce. Here's what to know about these spirits, and where to find them on your travels or at home.

Feni
Feni, produced in Goa, is a clear, colorless drink with a high alcohol content ranging between 42 and 45 percent. Local variations include cashew feni, distilled from cashew fruit, and coconut feni, distilled from the sap of the coconut tree. Cashew feni has a strong aroma, and is best sipped neat, or with a citrus mixer like Limca, a lemon-and-lime flavored carbonated drink. Coconut feni is milder in flavor and aroma, and usually drank neat.

Ripening Cashew Nuts in Tree
Cashew feni, produced in Goa, is distilled from cashew fruit. Getty
Feni has a Geographical Index tag, which means it can only be produced and sold in Goa; it can also be exported abroad. All liquor shops in Goa sell feni—look out for branded names like Cazulo and Big Boss, plus local taverns are often judged by their homemade feni. Bars in Goa like For The Record Vinyl Bar and Joseph’s Bar are innovating with feni cocktails like the Goan Bloody Mary, made with guava juice and cashew feni.

Rice wine and beer
In many parts of Northeastern India, tribal communities brew and consume beer or wine made of rice. The brews are made with a starter cake, which combines steamed glutinous rice and herbs, plants, and spices. The different fermentation times and the variation in the starter cakes determine the flavor. You’ll find these under various names in each region: there’s chubitchi in Meghalaya, the sour beer zutho in Nagaland, xaj and apong in Assam, langi in Tripura; and handia, and chhang in several states.

Sekmai yu is a local rice liquor distilled in Manipur. Its smooth taste is reminiscent of vodka, though a few compare it to Japanese sake. The most popular rice wine is judima, the traditional of the Dimasa tribe in Assam. The fermented beverage uses a starter cake, or humao, prepared from the bark of the thembra plant. This is mixed with local glutinous rice that is boiled and air dried, and kept to ferment in earthen vessels. Locals believe judima has many health benefits; in fact, newborn babies are given a taste of the drink to keep away bad luck. The wine is now available in shops under the name Judima; it’s also available at the annual Judima Festival showcasing the Dima Hasao region in late December.

Toddy
In Kerala, coconut trees provide nourishment in the form of a murky white alcoholic brew called toddy, or kallu.

Toddy Tapper
A toddy tapper collecting the coconut palm sap used to make toddy. Alamy
Toddy is made of the sap of coconut palm trees, collected by professional climbers (toddy tappers) and left to ferment. The yeast in the air aids the fermentation process, producing a slightly sweet and tart drink. Toddy has a short lifespan and hence cannot be bottled. If it’s left to ferment for longer than a couple of days, it becomes vinegar; if distilled, it is called arrack.

Toddy can be found in toddy shops or kallu shaaps in Kerala, where they help tamp the heat of the spicy and semi-dry beef and fish dishes the region is known for.

Fruit wines
India’s harsh climate isn’t technically suited for large-scale viticulture, but there are a few domestic wineries dotting the western part of the country that produce premium bottled wine made from grapes.

Across the country, there are a variety of homemade wines made from grapes, and others made from fruits or grains. Ladakh has rguntshang or gunshang, a mildly alcoholic fermented grape drink. There’s a fortified wine prepared in Mizoram called Zawlaidi (love potion) or ZO wine, made from a grape variety called lambrusca. In the mountainous region of Kinnaur, Angoori is a potent wine made from red and green grapes, which varies in intensity from a sweet port to a dry red. Recently, an entrepreneur in Nagaland created dragon fruit wine, bottled under Dream Dragon Fruit Wine.

Mahua
Mahua
Mahua is a tropical tree found in India’s central and eastern plains. The tree is important to the lives and culture of tribal Adivasi communities.

The sweet flowers are sun-dried, fermented with a yeast-infused rice cake, mixed with cane sugar like jaggery, and doubled-distilled for a delicious, faintly floral spirit. Every version of mahua liquor varies in clarity, potency, and taste.

Image may contain Plant Fruit and Food
Mahua comes from a tropical tree by the same name, found in India’s central and eastern plains. ePhotocorp
Mahua is one of the country’s most well-known indigenous liquors and yet, it’s difficult for regular consumers to find. For five years, Desmond Nazareth has been working toward getting mahua accepted in the mainstream alcohol industry. His brand, Desmondji, launched a mahua and a mahua liqueur flavored with honey and spices in 2018; both are available in liquor stores in Goa and Karnataka.

Royal liqueurs
These liqueurs, influenced by Rajasthan’s royal past and made from herbs, roots, and spices, were meant largely for medicinal and restorative purposes among the upper castes, though they were sometimes consumed recreationally. Each royal house had its own highly guarded recipe for these herbaceous but strong liquors and brews. Though these liqueurs were banned after India’s
independence in 1947, the government lifted regulations in 1998, allowing for production and sale once again.

Several of these are on the market today: The most popular is Kesar Kasturi from the House of Marwar, which traditionally contained saffron (kesar) and deer musk (kasturi, which is now banned as an ingredient), as well as dried fruits, herbs, nuts, spices, and condiments blended with milk and ghee. The Kanota family created Chandrahaas in 1863, using over 100 herbs and spices like kesar, rose, nutmeg, white sandalwood, and dried fruits. Meanwhile, the bitter brew of the Sodawas in Jodhpur, Royal Mawalin, has dates and dried fruits and other ingredients, and is treated as a restorative.

The Royal Heritage Liqueur Distillery in Jaipur distills the above liqueurs and others, which are then sold at liquor shops across the state.

https://www.cntraveler.com/story/a-guide-to-indias-must-try-spirits

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