If you love feni, why not try and see for yourself how it’s made? The forested countryside of Goa’s fringe talukas like Sattari, Canacona, Sanguem, even Bardez are dotted with make-shift distilleries which seasonally distill feni.
You may be surprised that a bulk of Goa’s feni produce does not come from mammoth factories, but from these units, which are generally operated by a family of cashew farmers or a collective of farmers. If you visit them and explain your curiosity, most of them will be more than glad to show you the process of feni manufacture and gladder still they would be, if you came away buying a few bottles of the fresh alcoholic produce.
Feni is a double distillate of fermented juice drawn from the cashew apple. The cashew farmers spend days scouring the countryside for ripe cashew fruits, which are then dumped into a hollowed rock basin, where the juice is squeezed out manually using rubber-boots. The juice is them set aside for fermentation in mud vessels buried in the soil. After the fermentation process, it is then distilled twice in vats set above a roaring fireplace.
In fact a visit to such a distillery could be an acid test of your love for feni, because during your time spent there, all you will be inhaling will be the strong odor, so commonly association with Goa’s popular drink.
