Hill Hospitality · Distilled Grain Spirit
Raksi
Photo: Gaurav Dhwaj Khadka / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
CNN once ranked it 41st among the world's 50 most delicious drinks — high praise for a spirit still cooked in small wood-fired stills scattered across the hillside countryside.
Raksi is a clear, potent spirit distilled from fermented rice, millet, barley or wheat at small rustic stills, its flavor shifting with the grain used — kodo millet and rice are common bases in the eastern hills. It's poured for guests as a mark of hospitality and drunk alongside grilled meat at hillside tea-shops and festivals.
Why it's made this way: The drink is especially tied to Nepal's Limbu and Kirati hill communities, who traditionally pour it for guests alongside skewered, fire-grilled meat as the centerpiece of hospitality.
More from Nepal
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
Something wrong here? Tell us in the comments below.
Photo credits.