Desi Daru, Whiskey and Scotch
India is the largest consumer of whiskey globally, accounting for nearly 60% of worlds total liquor by volume. This doesn’t mean that Indians are the heaviest drinkers but it largely has to do with India’s population which is fast inching close to China.
Let me share a few interesting facts, coupled with an info-graphic on Whiskey.
What’s Desi Daru ? – Nothing but an alcoholic drink highly popular in Indian villages and low income rural and urban regions. It is fermented and distilled from molasses which is a by product of sugarcane. Desi daru is made locally with legal and illegal set-ups all over the country.
Tharra is nothing but it’s variant. Illegitimate production of the desi daru is pretty rampant and widespread today.
Now what we drink in urban cities is what we call as ‘Angrezi Sharab‘.
Angrezi Sharab or Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) – is the terminology used by government, businesses and commercial entities. It includes whiskey that is made in India apart from spirits that are imported from outside the country.
Alcoholic percentage in IMFL is usually around 43%. These are mixtures built using neutral spirits that are distilled from fermented molasses.
While India doesn’t have a compulsory definition of whiskey, America and European Union have strict qualifications, defining a drink as Whiskey.
Did you know a whiskey and Scotch are different ? See this infographic to know more –
