Goa's popular 'Feni' can be a leading club or party drink if it is produced with finer flavours, a leading mixologist said.
The liquor is made using either cashew apple or coconut as main ingredient.
"It can be a club drink or a disco drink. If you look at research and filtration techniques, during distillation take the softer flavours to create the feni," mixologist Shatbhi Basu told PTI.
Basu was in the city yesterday to deliver a key note address during the ongoing conference of stakeholders of Feni, a brew that has got Geographical Indication (GI).
She said Feni is not accepted in pubs or clubs because people think it carries a strong smell but it has huge potential if marketed properly.
"It is very important for us to understand the drink and know its heritage. The most important thing is to get consistency of the product," she said.
"Good products in the world started out like feni. One such drink is tequila. Similarly, you have Korean Soju. In Japan everyone knew 'Sake' but nobody knew Soju... So these are products but they have built them, they have made framework of laws," Basu, also the country's one of the first woman bar tenderer, said.
"You should make sure that everyone follows at least a baseline rule then you can differentiate between a mass produced, or artisan one. This will also help the producers who look at the cooperative movement by helping the smaller producers who are not able to market themselves.
"If you have that framework, that is where you have to begin. Once you have good quality of product and packaging, marketing is not a problem," she said.
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Attending the meeting today, Chief Minister Laxmikant
Parsekar backed the idea of branding the brew as a "heritage drink".
"Goan cashew feni is special and unique in nature. It is needed to be preserved as a heritage drink. I appeal to the stakeholders to come out with clear and articulated vision for further development of the drink," Parsekar said, addressing the meeting, organised by the excise department, Goa Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association and All Goa Toddy Tappers Association in Panaji.
Feni should be tagged as a heritage drink outside the state to increase its marketability, he said, adding "we should also not forget the medical value of this brew".
The state government obtained 'geographical indicator' (GI) status (which certifies that it comes from a particular region and has been made using a particular traditional method) for feni in 2009, but nothing further was done to develop market for the brew, he said.
Basu had said at the meeting yesterday that the state should establish its 'ownership' on the drink and project it as spirit of Goa.
"Most countries in the world have established their ownership over the liquors produced locally. The same can be done in Goa," she said.
