The decade is about to end in few hours, plans are made, props are collected, today’s job is either done or we’re rushing into it’s completion. Even if you’re someone who sleeps while others do the countdown, tonight’s sleep is entitled. It may sound weird or you may have a hard time accepting it but it’s definite that you’ve secretly loved to boast your sleep ritual or reading sacrament on New Year’s eve.
While for those excited about boozing tonight, you’re about to benefit the liquor stores and government alike. As of the government data collected in January 2019, more than 16.5 lakh bottles of alcohol were sold on December 31, including liquor stores, clubs and resto-bars in Delhi alone. This amounted to the excise data collection of whopping Rs. 16.4 Crores from the national capital, imagine the number pertaining to the country. We commonly talk about the Indian Made Foreign Liquor, brands of beer and imported drinks but here’s a compilation of few traditional alcoholic drinks worth trying this New Year. As these drinks are the byproducts of food grains, you might as well try making them at home.
Chhang
Originally belonging to the regions of Tibet and Nepal, this alcoholic drink is prevalent as a household consumption in Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir. Brewed from rice, millet and barley, the ingredients are boiled in bamboo containers, followed by cooling them and adding yeast to let it ferment for three to four days before consumption.
Chhang is believed to have medicinal properties and is highly consumed by locals to cure cold, cough and fever, which are likely to catch anyone in high altitudes and chilling, low temperatures of the region.
Handia
The saint of all drinks in the list, as it has lower alcoholic strength and mostly herbs, Handia is the treasured drink of people in Bihar, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Chattisgarh. Being socially, culturally and religiously important to various tribes of Chotanagpur plateau, it is traditionally prepared by fermenting rice water with Ranu tablets ( aka Mullica/Mulikia/Bakhar) which are bitter in taste and are composed of sun-dried rice, roots and barks of about 20-25 herbal trees. One can purchase this mixture or the tablets from the market in less than Rs. 10 . Handia is like an energy drink with a pleasant buzz to cure cold, cough and physical stress.
Bangla
A distilled country liquor made from starch and sold in West Bengal, Bangla holds 39% of the state’s alcoholic beverage market share. Uran, Captain, Tarzan, Dada, Wonder, Pincon Bangla Number One are some of the famous Bangla brands, which make it by the fermentation of sorghum, barley and wheat grains. If words are to be believed then Bangla is Bengali’s favorite way to celebrate the spirit of festivities, offer it to Goddess Durga and also get drunk.
Lugdi
What Chhang is to the Himalayan, Lugdi is to the plains , which is a crude beer made by fermentation of rice or millets for about a week by break down of ingredients into liquid state and adding artificial yeast to it. This drink is extensively consumed in Manali, Himachal Pradesh to beat the toe-freezing weather.
Apo or Apung
Popular among the Nyishi people and widely consumed in the states of Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, Apo has religious significance as it is served in bamboo shoots to the participants of Nyokum festival, celebrated for better productivity, prosperity and happiness. Apo is the fermented byproduct of rice.
Sarah Rizvi 