Spirit levels The ancient tipple that led to a craft liquor boom

Sheltered in the shade of a mango tree entwined with peppercorn vines, a vast clay pot sits on top of a fire, its lid sealed tight with mud. Distilling within is India's oldest alcoholic spirit, said to date back almost 500 years.

-  Hannah Ellis-Petersen

This spirit, known as feni, was the liquor that lubricated life here in India's small, verdant state of Goa for centuries; sipped gently in the evenings, uproariously knocked back at festivals, and given as a medicinal pick-me-up for aches and fevers. While a potent, locally brewed jar made either from coconut wine freshly tapped from palm trees or fermented cashew fruit - could be found in almost every Goan home, it was never drunk outside state borders.

For a decade, Hansel Vaz, a geologist turned second-generation Goan feni maker, has been crafting his premium brand Cazulo at this 100-year-old distillery in south Goa. It has long been rebuffed as a lowly village tipple, but the feni tides are finally turning, a trend Vaz sees as part of a sweeping transformation of India's market for alcoholic spirits.

"This is the last spirit left in the world that's not industrialised at all. It's completely unique, sustainable and distinctive to India," said Vaz, who is known to many as the "feni doctor". "If this was a white guy making this in Europe, there would be a line 3km long outside my distillery."