Cholai

Cholai is an illegal alcoholic beverage made in India, equivalent to "hooch" or "bootleg" alcohol.^[1] Usually made from rice and distilled, it is sometimes mixed with industrial alcohol or methanol, which has resulted in several hundred deaths.^[2][3]

Preparation

As the product is unlicensed and neither well-controlled nor documented, information on the ingredients and production methods are vague, though it is felt that cholai may generally be made by "fermentation of boiled rice, sugar-cane, juice of date tree, molasses, and fruit juice (pineapple and jackfruits) etc."^[4]

The Indian encyclopedia, Bharater Adibasi, has a description of cholai as being a distilled alcohol made with two earthen pots joined together; the lower pot filled with yeast and mixed rice/jaggery; the upper pot left empty with an output tube. When the lower pot is heated, the vapour of 80% alcohol goes to the upper pot and comes into contact with cold air, which distils the vapour to become "cholai".^[5]

It is locally made, and sold cheaply and illegally. In 2011, consumption of cholai adulterated with industrial alcohol resulted in the death of over 140 people.^[6][7]

Cholai is also considered a local name, or a variant, of "desi dāru" (Hindi for "country alcohol"), i.e., cheap distilled liquor.^[8][9]

References