which was written by portuguese law and its beautiful to see how its still in practise and the importance of it to be followed if it was not protected by these laws feni would be just another commercialised spirit in the market without any cultural values to it karl fernandes mixologist and beverage consultantfeni is part of the intrinsic fabric of goan culture strongly woven into its cuisine lifestyle hospitality and its people certain synonyms that best describe goa will have feni described right on top along with sanna sorpotel xacuti xittkodi along with others feni without goa or goa without feni is incomplete the distilling fraternity in goa has upped the ante and it has paid rich dividends from being a local brew its grown as a global flavour now standing shoulder to shoulder with the ognacs and single malts of the world jeffrey manuel feni connoisseurfeni is a drink uniquely made only in goa so obviously it has great cultural significance in days gone by it was very much part of our lives from celebrations to illnesses the appreciation of feni is growing but not because of us goans it is the outsiders the other indians and foreigners with good taste who are discovering this unique and special drink and its properties they are becoming feni enthusiasts not many goans consider feni their first drink of choice and despite going through a revival you rarely see feni being served at weddings for example it still has some discrimination attached to it with whisky being deemed the weddingworthy drink even in bars and restaurants they will stock a maximum of two types of feni if at all but they will stock 12 types of whisky and four types of rum this too in goa the land that produces feni it is a shame cecil pinto feni enthusiast