Feni, the popular, but fiery locally distilled alcoholic drinks, may finally get its due, when Chief Minister laxmikant Parsekar presents his budget speech in a couple of month.
According to additional finance secretary to the Goa Government, Michael D’Souza, the budget speech of the Chief Minister could announce the unveiling of a comprehensive policy for feni, a move which he said would help standardise the brew, bring in the much required quality control as well as help market the drink across the country and abroad.
“look out for the Chief Minister’s budget speech,” D’Souza told The Pioneer, when asked as to when the policy was likely to be announced.
Almost synonymous with Goa, feni is manufactured from the juice extracted from the cashew apple, which is first fermented and then doubled distilled traditionally large vats. Coconut feni on the other hand is produced from fermented toddy, tapped from coconut palm and then distilled in a process similar to its cashew cousin.
Both drinks are extremely popular in Goa and are a part of the tropical State’s socio-cultural practices. Over four lakh bulk litres of cashew feni is distilled in Goa every year, but according to D’Souza currently there is no system by way of which the alcohol produced is assessed for quality control or standardisation.
“The policy will help create a framework for making feni better and that manufacturers of feni get their right due. Right now there are no mechanisms of standardisation or quality control,” D’Souza said.
According to Commis-sioner of Excise Menino D’Souza whose department annually auctions out thousands of sq mts cashew orchard land to cashew farmers, who then produce the alcohol using traditional methods, there is a need to switch feni from the current category of “country liquor” to “heritage liquor”.