{"id":104500,"date":"2025-07-28T20:13:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:43:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/?p=104500"},"modified":"2025-07-28T20:13:07","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T14:43:07","slug":"a-drink-of-story-and-spice-hansel-vaz-unveils-the-history-of-goas-misunderstood-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/?p=104500","title":{"rendered":"A drink of story and spice, Hansel Vaz unveils the History of Goa\u2019s misunderstood spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Goa Khabar :\u00a0For centuries, the story of feni, Goa\u2019s double-distilled spirit, has been simplified, sidelined and often misunderstood. Geologist turned spirit alchemist Hansel Vaz, also known as the\u00a0feni dotor,\u00a0set the record straight in an enlightening storytelling and tasting of Feni, its history and its hidden journey, that began with the South American spice trade.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

At his recent feni tasting and storytelling session at the Museum of Goa, Pilerne, titled \u2018Savour Flavour: Feni\u2019s Aromatic Journey\u2019 Vaz, founder of Cazulo Feni, Goa\u2019s premier distillery, says, \u201cFeni has been the most abused spirit in storytelling. It\u2019s time we unlearn the cliches and rediscover it as a beverage born from migration, spice trade, alchemy and medicinal wisdom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vaz took the audience on a deep dive into how feni’s roots were traced to the cross-continental spice routes that brought cashew and chilli to Goa. Vaz connected the dots between the South American spice trade, saying, \u201cJust like chillies came to Goa by accident, so did cashews. What we did with it? That was no accident.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Speaking about ancient ayurvedic concepts and modern-day experimentation, Vaz revealed hidden ingredients and less known techniques like botanical distillation and fat-washing, now being reintroduced into Goa\u2019s evolving beverage scene.\u00a0Sarasparilla,\u00a0a root, was used to make the root-infused feni,\u00a0Dukshiri\u00a0and is said to have helped eradicate body and muscle aches. \u201cThe intriguing factor of it all was that the forager at no point in time sold directly to the distiller. The market was completely secretive,\u201d Vaz explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese aren’t just drinks. They are rooted in history that wakes you at the break of the day. Literally. They are drinks born from forgotten roots and now reborn in modern Goa,\u201d he says. \u201cA group of friends and I had found ourselves awake early the next day after a night of drinking\u00a0Dukshiri,\u00a0something unusual for the group,\u201d\u00a0Vaz recalls.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s calling on more distillers, foragers, bartenders, chefs and storytellers to collaborate, experiment and expand the speciality, rather than commodify it. \u201cThe more people who play with these concoctions, the more we grow this movement together.\u201d<\/p>\n

To Vaz, distilleries of the old, weren\u2019t just liquor creators but alchemists who added botanicals into the process of distillation, taking a simple feni and transforming its flavour, and he seeks to restore the authenticity of the treasured Goan drink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Goa Khabar :\u00a0For centuries, the story of feni, Goa\u2019s double-distilled spirit, has been simplified, sidelined and often misunderstood. Geologist turned spirit alchemist Hansel Vaz, also known as the\u00a0feni dotor,\u00a0set the record straight in an enlightening storytelling and tasting of Feni, its history and its hidden journey, that began with the South American spice trade.\u00a0 At […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25169,"featured_media":104501,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[155,6],"tags":[3794],"class_list":["post-104500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-155","category-6","tag-featured"],"read":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/25169"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":104502,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104500\/revisions\/104502"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/104501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=104500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goakhabar.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=104500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}