Local Country Made Liquor in India

India, being one of the most populous countries in the world is a huge market for alcohol. Alcohol is being consumed in India since ancient times. So lots and lots of traditional alcoholic beverages are prepared in the country apart from the foreign brands that are imported. It is estimated that more than 40% liquor consumption in India is country made liquor.

Here are few of the alcoholic drinks that are made-in-India and consumed-in-India :-

Handia- it is a rice beer that’s commonly made by the people from central Indian states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar,Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

Mahua- it again is a traditional drink prepared by central Indian people from locally available mahua flowers.

Fenny- it’s very popular country liquor made in the state of Goa. This spirit is prepared from the juice of cashew apple or coconut.

Toddy or palm wine- palm wine is consumed in large amounts in southern part of India. It’s actually produced in various parts of the world using the sap of palmyra and coconut palms. In India its mainly prepared using coconut palm’s sap.

Arrack- arrack is a typical alcoholic beverage traditionally made in various countries of Southern Asia. It’s prepared by the fermented sap of coconut flowers, rice grain, sugarcane or fruits. It’s consumed by almost whole of India.

Sonti- it’s prepared particularly in the state of Andhra Pradesh. This rice based alcoholic beverage is prepared by steaming rice, to saccharify the starches to sugar; a mold is used followed by fermentation.

Chang- it’s a popular alcoholic beverage in the Himalayan regions of India. It’s a relative of the universally popular beverage beer. It’s prepared basically from barley, millet or rice. Its prepared in various methods in different areas.

Chauk- it’s a traditional rice beer indigenous to the state of Tripura. It’s drunk usually in social occasions of any Tripuri ceremony as ritual so it holds an important part in the tradition of the Tripuri people.

Gudamaba- it’s a traditional drink of people of the state of Andhra Pradesh. It was brewed from sugarcane and was offered to Goddess Durga but was later banned by the government due to the illegal use of methane and other chemicals which were used for making it.

Other than these traditional alcoholic beverages which are indigenous to the regions where they are produced, universally produced and consumed drinks such as beer, rum, whiskey, scotch, rum, gin, vodka, wine  etc. are either produced by Indian companies or are imported and are widely available all over the country in government owned wine stores. See their respective section to know more.