A Feni For Your Thoughts

Chuckles, trivia and heritage mingle at india’s first alcohol-themed museum, which toasts the grandeur of tipple

- Muskaan Gupta

The Portuguese came, they saw, they conquered. They overstayed till the time and the tide and the breeze blew beyond the sails, but they did leave behind a legacy. It is the Latinity that makes Goa different from the rest of the country. The merger was an explosion of the east and west and we sit in its cultural heart.” I am beyond stunned at my first interaction with Armando Duarte, the CEO and curator of All About Alcohol— India’s first museum dedicated to alcohol.

At 8 p.m., I was squeezed in for the last tour of the museum, which to my fortune became a private hosting. At first glance, I am greeted by a collection of giant cocktail glasses on the centre table, walls ornate with pastel drawers and lamps that have witnessed 150 years of friendships, marriages, birthdays and breakups. On either side, wooden tables display antique glassware, colonial alcohol paraphernalia—cart-shaped shot dispensers, oak barrels and a grav to measure feni’s potency—and manufacturing and distilling equipment that reminds one of Dexter’s Laboratory. It is hard to believe that Nandan Kudchadkar’s extensive collection of artefacts, from empty bottles to mini carriages assembled over 30 years, came alive in under a month across 13,000 square feet.