Goa New: Local Alcoholic Beverages

Sap is tapped from the coconut palm flower, fermented, then distilled twice. The result is softer and more floral than the cashew version, with a faint vegetal note. Tappers climb the same trees twice a day through the year, so unlike cashew feni it is not seasonal. It is usually drunk neat with lime and salt.

The first single distillation of fermented cashew juice, bottled at roughly 15 to 25 per cent alcohol. It is available only between March and May and keeps for about a week. Goans drink it long, with lime, salt, green chilli and a lemon soda. Outside the season no bar can serve it honestly.

Fallen cashew apples are collected by hand, stomped in a stone trough and fermented, then distilled a second time from urrak to reach around 40 to 45 per cent. The aroma is sulphurous on first approach and mellows quickly. It received Geographical Indication protection in 2009. Distilleries run tastings through the harvest.

Sweet fortified wines sold locally under the port name are made in Goa rather than in the Douro, and are not the protected Portuguese product. They are lower in alcohol and heavier in sugar than the original. Bottles are stacked in every Goan liquor shop. Most visitors buy them as an inexpensive souvenir.

Rum bottled in Goa in dark and white styles, sold at a price that keeps it on most bar back shelves in the state. It is mixed rather than sipped, usually with cola or lime soda. Goa's excise structure is what makes it as cheap as it is. Bottles travel poorly across state borders because of duty differences.

Independent breweries have opened across North Goa over the past decade, brewing wheat beers, lagers and IPAs on a small scale. Several use local additions such as kokum or cashew. Draught is poured at brewpubs rather than bottled for wide retail. The category sits well above the price of mass-market Indian lager.

A Goa-made lemon liqueur in the Southern Italian style, built by steeping citrus peel in spirit and sweetening the result. It is served chilled in small glasses after a meal. Local citrus replaces the Sorrento lemons used in Italy. Stockists are limited to specialist bottle shops and a handful of bars.