Roland,
How true that doctor who advised you to desist from feni was !
Have you noticed the emaciated look on many older goan gents who
are regular imbibers of our precious feni ?........... and this
does not come from being underfed. Rather in the parlance of
distillers i suspect the presence of traces of " fusel oils" ( an
old term for higher Alcohols .........other than the C2 H5 OH (
ethyl alcohol )................... so maybe C3......C4 alcohols tainted
with the metals of the distilling vessel or the earthen ware pots
where the intial " mash " from the cashews and other impurities that
may have entered at the primary stage , or during the
fermentation.or in the distillation.
A few years ago some gent , on this very GoaNet forum , who had
been associated with the distilling industry in Goa for a long
time was very frank in revealing to us how he was surprised to
attend the sale/ auction of straight grain alcohol (C2H5 OH) which
pharma. and cosmetic folk use in their preparations and...............
reps. from reputable distillers bidding to buy their share of this
government -controlled product.
It was explained to him that the supply of cashew apple fruits
was just not enough to cope with the demand for the cajel
consumption................. hence the supply of cashew juice was
later fortified in the finishing stages with straight grain alcohol
. The level of govt. competence in mantaining the purity of grain
alcohol could be suspect from state to state .... (the chance
adulteration is always there in any state )
Similarly, when i first got to Toronto i was amused by some
TO - born - italian boys who would mix grape juice with the 40
per cent grain alcohol which could be bought at LCBO stores and
passing it off as wine that had that had been prepared by genuine
fermentation at home !
Which of goan distillers would be honest enough to admit to
similar volume tricks if they include it in their processors? I
`d like to have an assurance from the chemists and management of
the prime distillers in Goa ..................like Madame Rosa or
similar cos.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Roland Francis" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Goanet" <[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2008 10:10 AM
Subject: [Goanet] The Mechanics of Feni Pricing
Frederick has written the following article in the Herald:
http://oheraldo.in/pagedetails.asp?nid=2153&cid=2
Now what I can't understand is this:
Why is the producer complaining that he has to sell his cashew feni
kolso (is that 6, 12 or 18 bottles?) at Rs 550 and at that price it is
not remunerative for him?
Why can't he sell it at say Rs 2000 and thus make it worthwhile?
Feni used to be my favorite drink whenever I regularly went to Goa on
R&R when I worked in the Gulf - until I saw a Carmona doctor, old and
experienced (I forget his name) who told me in no uncertain terms to
stop drinking feni. His exact words were "there is no such thing as
pure feni in Goa today, no matter who tells you how he personally
knows the distiller and where he got it from". Words of wisdom which I
took seriously enough to follow.
Now my question is:
Personally, I would be willing to pay as much for a bottle of 100%
pure feni as I would for a bottle of scotch, say Canadian Dollars 40
or its rupee equivalent 1600. Undoubtedly there are several overseas
Goans, feni lovers like me who would be willing to pay a like amount.
Now tell me at that price would a Goa distiller find it worthwhile to
make his liquor?
So could FN or anyone else explain what this brouhaha is all about?
(Rajan Parrikar's fave word "brouhaha" - ha ha.)
Roland.
--
Roland Francis
416-453-3371
