The movement to remove the country liquor tag from Feni is going since a long time now. In the month of April 2016, the Commissioner of Excise Goa, Menino D’Souza had said that that, “The state government will move an amendment to the Goa Excise Duty Act, 1964, which will save Feni from being tagged as country liquor and instead would be classified as Heritage Spirit.” But here Mr. Parsekar went one step ahead by introducing the bill in Goa Assembly for raising the status of feni as a Heritage Spirit. Read the complete report here.
[su_expand more_text=”READ MORE” less_text=” ” height=”0″ hide_less=”yes” link_style=”button” link_align=”center”]Goa supposes to remove country liquor tag from Feni, just like Tequila and scotch. Goan Feni is one of the identities of Goa which was tagged in the lines of Tequila and scotch which were once country liquor. It’s good news for Goans and especially to the feni lovers that Goan feni is all set to go to different places as the state government is ready to alter the four-decade-old Excise Act to give this traditional drink a ‘Heritage Spirit’ tag. This is what Goa’s Commissioner of Excise has to say and how this alteration of an act will benefit the state.
Read: Goa to remove country liquor tag from Feni just like Tequila and scotch
Keeping in line with a promise earlier made to the distillers of Goan Feni, a popular locally-brewed cashew and coconut-based liquor, Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar on Monday introduced in the State Legislative Assembly and Excise Duty (Amendment) Bill, 2016 seeking to elevate the status of feni as heritage spirit, bringing it on par with Scotch whisky and tequila.
“Having considered diverse uses of ‘feni’ in cultural traditions, cuisines, medicinal purpose, etc., which is synonymous with the Goan identity, the Government of Goa has decided to separately define ‘feni’ and establish its unique and well deserved status by declaring this liquor as the heritage spirit of Goa,” said the amendment legislation, which was introduced during the ongoing Monsoon Session.
Cashew feni, Goa’s most popular alcoholic beverages famous across the world just like Taquila, is distilled from fermented juice extracted from the cashew apple. A similar process of is used to distil coconut feni from palm toddy as well. Feni is currently listed as ‘country liquor’.
Feni is also Goa’s first Geographical Indication (GI) product and it is also the first liquor in the country to obtain the GI status. The Bill ambitiously seeks to help feni to reach out the “GI benefits to the primary and traditional stakeholders, enabling trade in world markets and positioning it on equal footing to global brands of scotch whiskey and tequila.”
The new amendment will not only bring the required recognition the Goa Liquor but it will also amount into increasing the state revenue. Liquor is one of the product that contributes the lion’s share to the state treasury.
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