how feni is made: goa's 500-year-old cashew liquor tradition (2026)

tldr: i spent a day at a 60-acre cashew farm in south goa watching feni being made the way it’s been done for centuries. women collect the fallen cashew fruits from the forest. the fruit is separated from the nut, crushed by foot in a stone basin, fermented for 3 days, then double-distilled in clay pots sealed with mud over wood fire. the final product is 32-35% alcohol, tastes of cashew fruit and smoke, and is stored in coconut shell cups because glass bottles apparently ruin the flavor. the whole process takes about a week from fruit to feni. this guide covers every step, the families keeping it alive, and why goa’s most iconic drink is also its most misunderstood.

most people who have tried feni in goa have tried bad feni.

this is not their fault. the feni served at beach shacks and tourist bars in north goa is, more often than not, commercially produced, aggressively priced, and about as representative of real feni as instant noodles are of ramen. it burns going down. it smells like something went wrong. it gives you a headache that lasts until wednesday. and then you go home and tell people that feni is terrible, and the cycle continues.

i held this opinion myself until i stood in a forest in south goa at 8 in the morning, watching women fill baskets with cashew fruits that had fallen overnight, and a man named bhai explained to me how his family has been making feni on this 60-acre farm for more generations than he can count. the farm is near quepem in south goa, surrounded by nothing but cashew trees, spice gardens, coconut palms, and the kind of silence that only exists when you’re far enough from tourist goa to forget it exists.

what i learned over the next several hours fundamentally changed how i think about this drink. feni is not goa’s cheap party spirit. it’s a 500-year-old distillation tradition that’s as sophisticated as any whisky-making process in scotland or mezcal production in oaxaca. it just doesn’t have the marketing budget.

the cashew fruit (not the nut)

first, a clarification that surprises most people: feni is made from the cashew apple, not the cashew nut.

the cashew fruit is a pear-shaped, bright yellow or red fruit that grows attached to the cashew nut. the nut hangs from the bottom of the fruit like an afterthought. in most of the world, the nut is the valuable product and the fruit is discarded. in goa, the fruit is the star.

cashew trees fruit once a year, roughly from march to may. this three-month window is the only time cashew feni can be produced. the entire year’s supply is made during this season. outside these months, you can buy stored feni, but you won’t see the process in action.

the fruits ripen and fall from the tree on their own. they are not picked. this is important - the fruit needs to be fully ripe for the sugar content to be high enough for proper fermentation. every morning during the season, women from the farm walk through the cashew forest with baskets, collecting the fallen fruit. a single basket holds about 10 kg. the work starts early because the fallen fruit needs to be processed quickly before it starts to rot in the goan heat.

back at the processing area, the first step is separation. the cashew nut is twisted off the bottom of each fruit by hand. the nuts go into one basket (to be processed separately for eating). the fruits go into the crushing area. this separation is done entirely by hand and is one of the most labor-intensive parts of the process.

the crush

the traditional crushing method is exactly what you’d imagine if you’ve ever seen old photographs of grape stomping in european vineyards.

a stone basin - called a coimbi - sits on the ground. the cashew fruits are piled in. and then someone gets in and stomps on them. barefoot. for about thirty minutes. the weight and pressure of the human body crushes the soft fruit, releasing the juice, which drains through a channel at the bottom of the basin into a collection vessel.

i did this. i got into the basin and stomped cashew fruit with my bare feet while bhai watched and, i suspect, silently judged my technique. the fruit is soft and fragrant. the juice runs quickly. the smell is intense - sweet and acidic and slightly fermented already from the tropical heat.

for larger batches, they now use a mechanical press as well. a wooden or metal cage is packed with the crushed fruit, and a heavy stone (about 35 kg) is placed on top. the weight slowly squeezes out every remaining drop of juice. this can take another 30 minutes to an hour. the dual approach - foot stomping for the initial crush, stone pressing for the final extraction - maximizes yield.

the juice that comes out is cloudy, slightly thick, and sweet. it looks like unfiltered apple juice with a tropical personality.

the fermentation

the fresh juice is poured into large clay pots and left to ferment. no yeast is added. the wild yeast present on the fruit and in the goan air does the work. this natural fermentation is what gives feni its distinctive character - it’s not a controlled process with laboratory precision. it’s an open conversation between the juice and the environment.

fermentation takes about 3 days. during this time, the sugar in the juice converts to alcohol, and the liquid develops the slightly funky, fruity aroma that will eventually define the feni. the pots are not sealed airtight - there’s enough of an opening for carbon dioxide to escape but not so much that bacteria contaminate the batch.

after 3 days, the fermented juice is ready for distillation. at this point, it’s essentially a low-alcohol cashew wine. pleasant to drink on its own, slightly sour, mildly alcoholic. but the real transformation happens next.

the distillation

this is where the magic happens, and it’s a process that has remained essentially unchanged for centuries.

the first distillation (urrack)

the fermented cashew juice is poured into a large clay pot (bhann) set over a wood fire. a second clay pot is placed inverted on top of the first, creating a sealed chamber. the joint between the two pots is sealed with mud - actual mud from the farm, mixed with water to create a paste that hardens in the heat and prevents any vapor from escaping.

as the fire heats the fermented juice, it begins to vaporize. the alcohol evaporates before the water (lower boiling point), rises as steam, and hits the cooler upper pot. a third pot sits on top of the upper pot, filled with cold water. this cold water cools the upper pot’s surface, causing the alcohol vapor to condense back into liquid. the condensed liquid drips down from the inside of the upper pot and is channeled through a small opening into a collection vessel.

this condensed liquid is the first distillate, called urrack (sometimes spelled urrak). it’s about 15-20% alcohol - milder and fruitier than the final feni. some people in goa drink urrack as it is, mixed with limca or soda. it’s the lighter, more approachable version of the spirit.

the first distillation takes about 3 hours.

the second distillation (feni)

the urrack is poured back into the cleaned bhann and distilled a second time using the exact same clay pot and mud seal setup. this second pass concentrates the alcohol further and refines the flavor. the harsher compounds are left behind, and the resulting liquid is cleaner, smoother, and stronger.

the second distillation takes another 3 hours.

what drips out of the condenser after this second distillation is feni. the real thing. about 32-35% alcohol. clear with a slight brownish-red tint. the aroma is unmistakable - fruity, smoky from the wood fire, with a sharpness that makes your nose tingle. the taste is smooth, surprisingly so, with a long cashew fruit finish and a warmth that spreads through your chest.

bhai poured me a glass in a cup made from a coconut shell. he explained that they don’t store feni in glass bottles because, according to him, glass affects the flavor over time. coconut shell cups keep the feni tasting like feni. whether this is science or tradition, i don’t know. but i drank feni from a coconut shell cup, standing in a cashew forest, and it tasted nothing like the feni i’d been avoiding for years.

cashew vs coconut feni

cashew feni gets all the attention, but goa also produces coconut feni (sometimes called palm feni), made from the sap of coconut palms.

coconut feni is made from toddy - the same fermented coconut palm sap that’s consumed as a drink in kerala. in goa, the toddy is distilled rather than drunk directly, producing a spirit that’s smoother and less aromatic than cashew feni. it’s the everyday feni in many goan homes - the one the family drinks, as opposed to the one they sell to tourists.

if you want to try both, ask at local bars in south goa. north goa beach shacks rarely stock coconut feni.

how to drink feni (properly)

the standard tourist approach is to shoot it. this is wrong.

feni is a sipping spirit. the proper way to drink it in goa:

feni with lime and soda: the most popular preparation. a measure of feni in a glass, squeeze of fresh lime, topped with soda water. the lime cuts the aroma, the soda dilutes the alcohol, and the result is refreshing and surprisingly easy to drink. this is what goans drink at their homes on a regular evening.

feni neat, chilled: if you have good feni (farm-made, not commercial), try it neat but cold. the chill tames the aroma and lets the cashew fruit flavor come through. sip it. don’t shoot it.

feni with kokum: kokum (garcinia) juice mixed with feni. the tartness of kokum with the fruitiness of feni is a combination that works better than it has any right to. some bars in panjim serve this.

feni in cocktails: the newer goan bars (especially in panjim and assagao) have started using feni as a cocktail base. it works the way mezcal works - as a smoky, complex base that adds depth to mixed drinks. this is probably the future of feni as a category, and it’s exciting.

the families

what struck me most about the farm visit was not the process itself but the people. the women who walk through the forest at dawn collecting fruit. the man who climbed the copper still to check the mud seal. bhai, who talked about feni the way a winemaker talks about terroir - with specificity, with pride, and with the quiet confidence of someone whose family has been doing this longer than most countries have existed.

the farm was 60 acres. open year-round, though the feni production only happens during the 3-month cashew season. they have cottages for visitors, a swimming pool, spice gardens, and peacocks that wander through the property like they own it (they do). the whole place runs from 8 am to 6 pm.

the farm is near quepem in south goa. i’m not naming it specifically because i don’t want it to become another instagram spot. if you’re genuinely interested in seeing feni production, ask around in south goa. the cashew farm community is small and everyone knows everyone. mention you want to see traditional feni-making and someone will point you in the right direction.

the awards (my personal picks)

• best way to drink feni: with lime and soda. it’s the default for a reason.
• most underrated: coconut feni. harder to find, smoother to drink, and the one goans actually prefer at home.
• most misunderstood: feni’s reputation as a “harsh” spirit. properly made feni is smooth. the harshness comes from bad feni, which is unfortunately what most tourists encounter.
• best experience: watching the distillation. the moment the first drop of feni condenses and drips into the collection pot is genuinely thrilling. centuries of technique distilled (literally) into a single moment.
• biggest misconception: that feni is just goa’s cheap alcohol. it’s a gi-tagged, artisanal spirit with a production process as complex as any premium spirit in the world.
• best season to visit: late march to early may. the cashew fruits are falling, the stills are running, and the farms are alive.

why feni matters

goa is changing fast. the beach shacks are being replaced by boutique hotels. the fishing villages are becoming expat enclaves. the old goan houses are being torn down for apartment buildings. in the middle of all this change, there are families in south goa who still make feni the way their great-great-grandparents did - with clay pots, mud seals, wood fires, and cashew fruit stomped by foot.

this is not nostalgia. this is an active, living tradition that produces a genuinely unique product. there is nowhere else in the world that makes cashew feni. the cashew tree was brought to goa by the portuguese in the 16th century, and the local population figured out how to turn its fruit into alcohol using technology that was available in every village: clay, fire, and patience.

the feni you drink at a beach bar is a product. the feni you drink at a cashew farm in south goa, poured from a clay pot into a coconut shell, still warm from distillation, is an experience that connects you to five centuries of goan ingenuity.

i’m not saying you need to become a feni person. i’m saying you owe it to yourself to try the real thing at least once before deciding.

goa feni tips

• visit a farm in south goa between march and may to see the full production process. the cashew season is short.
• avoid buying feni at beach shacks in north goa. the markup is absurd and the quality is inconsistent.
• buy from local toddy shops or directly from farms. a good bottle of cashew feni costs rs 200-500 in south goa. the same quality in a north goa tourist shop costs rs 800+.
• store feni in a cool, dark place. despite what bhai told me about coconut shells, a glass bottle works fine for transport. just don’t leave it in direct sunlight.
• the “feni headache” is usually from cheap, poorly distilled feni or from drinking too much. farm-made feni, consumed in moderation, is a surprisingly clean drink.
• if you don’t like the aroma of cashew feni, try coconut feni. it’s milder and smoother. ask for it specifically at bars - many stock it but don’t advertise it.

if you found this useful, check out these other goa guides:

• best food in goa
• goa street food guide
• best restaurants in goa
• goa nightlife guide