strongsmelling local spirit to a potentially sophisticated one madame rosas lembranca for instance is a brand where the feni is matured in oak casks and that has a label by mario miranda trendy feni cocktails are seeing such experiments as shaken with malibu coconut water and tonic to concoct cool sundownersin assam traditional brews were given the heritage tag last year according to media reports with the state cabinet approving a proposal to hygienically manufacture and bottle these and enable their retailing stores alongside imfl however the problem with such local heritage drinks is that because they fall under the country category they cannot be sold in states other than where they are made so whatever the image change feni may have undergone and however sophisticated a cocktail you may have had with it in goa you will still not find it in bars in mumbai or delhi ironically it can be and is importedmahua more widespread than any other local spirit in india has been under focus by private entrepreneurs and craft distillers for a while in june desmond nazareth who makes an extensive and interesting range of desmondji spirits and liqueurs including an agave spirits the same family as tequila announced the launch of dj mahua and dj mahua liqueur nazareth had been working for five years on this project and got the madeinandhra pradesh mahua to be categorised as iml by the state rather than as just a country spirit to facilitate its manufacture and sale in goa only at the momentwith the tribal affairs ministry stepping in and announcing plans to legally bottle and sell the spirit across india its time to raise a toast to indias local mixology