Home-made liquor popular in interiors

SHIMLA: “Fifteen men on the dead man’s chest/ Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum/ Drink for the devil and drink for the rest/ Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum”. Substitute the bottle of rum with a canister of hooch and these lines from Robert Lousi Stevenson’s treasure Island could well be the swan song of the residents of some of the interior areas of Shimla and Sirmaur districts of the state, where the home-made brew is easily available.
Bordering Chakrata tehsil of the neighbouring Uttarakhand state, the region better known for its forest and limestone wealth, is perhaps one of the most backward areas, though money from the clandestine and also legal mining operations has improved the economy of the local people. But in the absence of development and facilities, the region still remains backward. And though liquor is smuggled into the area, but with the cops keeping a close tab and even opposition to opening of vends by the women, the home-made brew still remains popular.
Local hooch connoisseurs of the region, who claim to have tasted brew made in other parts of this tiny hill state from an array of vegetable, fruits, grains and even certain chemicals, claim that but for the ‘angoori’ made from black grapes in Kinnaur district and arrack, which is in vogue in the tribal Lahaul and Spiti district, the hooch available in this belt bordering Uttarakhand is a close third in both kick and taste.
Incidentally, the locals claim that it is the migrant Nepali labourers that came here to work on roads, orchards and even mines, who initiated the locals into the finer art of brewing. Incidentally, according to a spokesman of the excise department here, the residents of the tribal areas of the state, which include Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts and Bharmour and Pangi in Chamba district are allowed to brew their liquor requirements but for their private consumption and not for sale. The same is also applicable to 45 villages of Paonta tehsil and 70 villages of Renuka tehsil in Sirmaur district bordering Uttarakhand and the Dodra Kwar area of Shimla district.
However, local residents of the area claim that the hooch is also available for as much as Rs 15 a bottle and most of it is made by the migrant Nepali labourers to augment their earnings.