As another year draws to a close, Goa’s feni industry finds itself on the edge of its most significant chapter yet. For nearly two decades, conversations about Geographical Indication (GI) protection, heritage status and fair systems for small distillers have mostly lived in policy files and conference rooms. Now, they are finally starting to shape what flows out of the stills. Cashew Feni: From GI on paper to GI in the bottle Cashew feni received a Geographical Indication tag back in 2009, making it India’s first spirit to be granted such recognition. A few years later, in 2016, the Goa government formally declared feni the “Heritage Spirit of Goa”, lifting it above the anonymous category of Country Liquor. The Feni Policy of 2021 went further, spelling out technical standards and creating the framework for GI-compliant production, including a Conformity Assessment Board (CAB). For a long time, however, this recognition remained largely theoretical. Labels could boast, brochures could claim, but there was no institutional mechanism to test whether a bottle of “Goan Cashew Feni” really matched the standards promised by the GI. That is now changing. The first GI-process-certified cashew feni brands are moving towards the market, signalling a shift from “GI on paper” to GI that is audited, recorded and labelled on the bottle. Symbolically, it is a quiet but historic moment: cashew feni is beginning to stand beside other protected regional spirits of the world, not just in law but on shelves. At the heart of this transformation is the CAB. Instead of treating GI as a loose logo anyone can slap on, the CAB demands a rigorous paper trail and physical verification. Distillers must record how much cashew fruit they crush, how much juice is fermented, how much urraca (the first distillate) is produced, and finally how much feni comes out of the still. Those production figures must match what is declared to the excise department. GI feni can be bottled only by a GI-registered bottler, and the bottler’s production records must tally with the distiller’s figures. Only then are official GI holograms issued, creating a traceable chain from cashew orchard to final bottle. “GI is not a free-for-all or a simple licence form,” said entrepreneur Hansel Vaz, Secretary of the Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association and President of the Coconut Feni Collective. “It’s a disciplined system that demands transparency from every player, big or small.” He said the shift from “GI on paper” to verified, traceable GI feni is the industry’s most important turning point yet, finally putting cashew feni on the same footing as other protected regional spirits. Cashew on the brink: Land, labour and fire While the paperwork has finally strengthened, the cashew landscape itself has been under strain. Producers across Goa point to senile trees that were never systematically replanted, forest fires fuelled by uncleared undergrowth, and the relentless pressure of mass, low-priced production on quality. Climate stress has added another layer: erratic rainfall, hotter summers and falling yields, with some regions reporting steep declines in cashew output. Real estate pressure—especially in North Goa—has only made matters worse. Cashew orchards have been steadily converted into plots and villas. For years, there was little incentive to protect land under cashew when cheap fruit could easily be trucked in from outside the State. With no premium for authentic Goan fruit or carefully crafted feni, the trade looked like hard physical labour with poor returns. Unsurprisingly, younger generations drifted to other professions and traditional knowledge began to fray. A distiller associated with the Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association said the outcome was inevitable. “Cashew was treated as cheap labour work, not a craft,” he said. “Weak prices led to neglect, neglect lowered quality, and lower quality made fair prices impossible. Until the trade rewards quality, young people will keep leaving.” What GI can change for cashew When GI demands proof that the cashew apples are grown in Goa, orchards within the State gain value—and land becomes worth protecting. Farmers can command better prices for well-grown fruit instead of competing with cheaper out-of-State supply, creating rational incentives to keep land under cashew, clean undergrowth, prevent fires and replant old trees, association members said. Traditional knowledge stops being “free”. GI standards encode traditional know-how—fermentation methods, distillation cuts, blending practices—into a recognised specification. The craft of the village distiller becomes visible and, ideally, better paid. The young see a future. When bottles carry the producer’s or distiller’s name, feni stops being an anonymous commodity and becomes an authored craft spirit. That makes it easier for the next generation to see pride and possibility in staying with the trade. Prices already hint at this shift. What sold for ₹60–80 a litre a decade and a half ago now often fetches ₹130–300 a litre in many parts of Goa, especially for respected village distillers. If that is the going rate for regular feni, it is not unreasonable to imagine a premium bracket of ₹500–600 a litre for fully compliant GI cashew feni of good strength and quality. That would be a genuine win–win. Producers would finally receive the fair price that GI was designed to secure, while consumers would gain single-source, provenance-based feni and know exactly what they are paying for. If Goa’s land and culture are to thrive, drinkers must be willing to pay fairly for authentic feni. In short, GI is not just a logo; it is a tool to change incentives in the field. Coconut feni: The “original” spirit fights back If cashew feni is the poster child of GI, coconut (palm) feni is the old warrior quietly returning to the arena. Coconut feni predates cashew by centuries and is deeply woven into Goan village life. For many families, it is the original feni. Yet in the decades after Liberation, it was battered by social stigma attached to toddy tapping, the sheer physical hardship of the work, low prices and thin state support. Many toddy tappers refused to let their children follow them up the trees; the craft hovered on life support. Over the last few years, a new model has emerged. Large coconut farms, already under price pressure when nut rates fall, have pivoted to systematic toddy collection in partnership with distillers. Newer dwarf and hybrid coconut varieties make tapping less dangerous and less dependent on expert climbers. Industry players and farm owners have begun working together to guarantee bulk toddy supply, finally making investment in coconut feni brands viable, collective members said. “A new model has finally emerged,” said Vaz, describing the shift to systematic toddy collection and partnerships with large coconut farms. “For the first time, the category has a stable base—steady toddy, safer tapping, and the confidence for distillers to invest again.” For the first time in decades, coconut feni production has shown real growth. Industry players said distillers, no longer haunted by chronic scarcity of pure toddy, have revived old expressions and recipes—dukshiri, ginger-based infusions, coffee liqueur-style preparations and other flavours popular half a century ago. Collective members said this cooperation has revived confidence across the craft. “The old system failed because there was no reliable supply,” one member said. “Now, even small distillers can think long-term again.” The price story reflects this turnaround too. Barely a decade ago, coconut feni sold at around ₹80 a litre. Today, ₹650 a litre has become the established benchmark for good coconut feni. That uplift ensures a fairer return at every stage of production and creates strong incentives for proper fermentation, clean distillation and honest blending. Coconut feni and the GI horizon Ironically, the older spirit was left out of the original cashew-centric GI. Early attempts by toddy tappers to secure protection stalled, and at one point an application in the GI registry was even refused. The breakthrough this time has been political rather than technical. Tappers, distillers and bottlers have come together under a Coconut Feni Collective. This unified front clears the way for a serious GI Coconut Feni application to the registry in Chennai. If all goes well, 2026 could be remembered as the year when coconut feni finally steps into the same legal framework that cashew has enjoyed since 2009. A successful GI for coconut feni would recognise it as the original Goan feni, protect the interests of toddy tappers and small distillers, and open up space for year-round, terroir-driven expressions that are more flexible than seasonal cashew. Urraca: A seasonal spirit looking for a legal form In the shadows of these big policy moves is another quiet discussion: urraca (or urrack), the early, low-proof seasonal distillate that precedes full-strength cashew feni. Traditionally sold loose and drunk only in season, urraca has never fitted neatly into the excise system. Yet the on-trade—bars and restaurants—now increasingly want a bottled, labelled product for proper billing, consistency and fair pricing. Distillers said conversations around carefully regulated bottling of urraca are beginning, though still exploratory. Handled with care, this could give legal shape to a beloved seasonal drink without turning it into just another bland mass product. A new phase for a Goan icon Taken together, these strands—GI-certified cashew feni finally entering the market, coconut feni’s remarkable comeback and GI push, and new thinking around seasonal spirits like urraca—suggest that Goa’s feni industry is entering a genuinely new phase. It is no longer only a story of a rustic “country liquor” fighting for respect. It is slowly becoming a story of how law, land, labour and culture can be aligned so that a small coastal state protects its orchards, honours its craftspeople and sends a truly Goan spirit out into the world with its name, history and dignity.