Apong: Assam’s traditional rice wine is now bottled as Ti:Po
Japan has sake, Korea has makgeolli. India has Ti:Po, Po:Ro Apong. The traditional rice wine of the Mising community of Assam, apong is now a
Japan has sake, Korea has makgeolli. India has Ti:Po, Po:Ro Apong. The traditional rice wine of the Mising community of Assam, apong is now a premium bottled drink. Apong, also popular in Assam as sai mod (ash liquor), is prepared from rice and uses foraged herbs. Ti:Po in Mising language means a satisfactory drink. But unlike the cloudy makgeolli and crystal clear sake, Ti:Po is close to Bourbon whiskey in appearance. With 14% alcohol content, a sip of Ti:Po is closer to sake with two distinct ending notes — sweet and smoky. The other distinct notes are fruity and nutty. The idea to present apong as a premium bottled drink (only available in Assam for now) lies with the founders Dipankar Kalita, Abhijit Pegu and singer and music composer, Joi Barua. However, it is common knowledge that bottling an indigenous drink to be sold in stores is not a simple task. To be able to present Ti:Po as a premium beverage, the founders combined traditional Mising craftsmanship with patented modern technology. The company has patented the technology of removing microbes (that leads to spoilage) and multiple filtration. All this while empowering local women with sustainable livelihoods. Dipankar says, “Ti:Po stays true to the phrase ’it takes a village to raise a child’.
Po:Ro Apong, the traditional, home-brewed rice beer, has cultural significance for the Mising people of Assam. So, we couldn’t think of brewing it without the experts who have honed brewing skills from their ancestors.” As the idea was conceptualised, the team worked with local women to keep the taste, technique and process authentic. Since home-brewed rice alcohol, like food, varies from household to household, they identified a group of women who would work as a team. Abhijit Pegu, one of the three co-founders said, “Over a span of two years, we tasted and tried Apong from several households repeatedly to track consistency. This also included testing for preservation, acidity, sweetness, colour and smokiness. As we tasted, we kept filtering the group of households that were able to maintain the pre-decided requirements. We further filtered down to form a group of 20 women. Once this was sorted, we moved to the next step.” A group of 20 women can approximately produced 5,000 bottles of apong. To preserve the tradition, Ti:Po also partnered with two Self Help Groups — Polo SHG (Laimekuri) and Aaradha SHG (Memberchuk). The women brewmasters remain custodians of the craft while becoming part of the supply chain. The drink is unique because it derives its flavour from the herbs of Assam.
The BriefWire