Click to play videoJaipur: When Christine, a tourist, planned her trip to Rajasthan to sample the old-world charm of its forts and palaces, a 'royal' high was not something she hoped to sample.
"It's quite a surprise to discover herbal liquor in Rajasthan, but I think it's a good experience," certifies Christine.
In Jaipur, you don't have to be a royal any more to taste Rajasthan's heritage liquors. Long forgotten exotic liquors brewed with home-grown herbs that never stepped out of the royal cellar are now ready to hit the store next door.
The Rajasthan government has already launched two saffron based brands and tourists are lapping it up.
These liquors come out of recipe books that are over a hundred years old. The recipes are now patented by the Rajasthan government. And at the state distillery, back to life after 50 years, there's a treasure of spices waiting to be processed.
It smells heady. Some of the most exotic spices are soaked in spirits and water for seven to eight days. Then they are put into a distillation plant before it is brewed.
Processing takes over 15 days and then the liquors are bottled and packed. Three more brands are scheduled to hit the markets this month - Mauvlin, Mahanser Saunf and Chandra Haas.
A marketing strategy is also in place.
Says OP Yadav, General Manager of Rajasthan State Ganganagar Sugar Mills,"For international marketing, for Europe, America, Southeast Asia and Gulf countries, we'll have marketing professional and market it through them."
It's made of sugar and spice and all things nice, come summers, you'll also have a new line of fruity, cool brands like apple orange, elaichi, pudina to choose from.
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