Raj restarts production of royal liquor
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan excise department has restarted production of royal heritage liquor at its Jaipur distillery this month. The first brand, Royal Chandr Haas, should be out in market in a day or two, said officials.
The Rajasthan State Ganganagar Sugar Mills (RSGSM) acquired recipes of the brews from the erstwhile royal families in 2003 to keep them alive. Eight brands of heritage liquor, whose recipes came from three royal families, were produced between 2003 and 2008 and then the production stopped because the company failed to clear its inventory. In 2018, the pending stock was sold and inventory cleared.
Twelve years later, the sugar mills, which manufactures country liquor, is restarting production of four brands – Royal Chandr Haas, Royal Kasturi, Royal Saunf and Royal Jagmohan.
“Chandr Haas will be out in the market in next twothree days,” said said Kesar Lal Meena, RSGSM general manager. “There will be two packing, 180 ml and 750 ml.”
“The production stopped in 2008 because of low demand in market for these brands because they were expensive. It is for this reason that this time we also have a smaller packing of 180 ml which even a common man can afford,” he said.
Meena said the price of the two packings will be decided on Tuesday and the bottles will reach retailers on Wednesday.
“The brand will be available across 40 depots of Rajasthan State Beverages Corporation Limited, which handles supply of Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) and beer, and 19 depots of RSGSM,” said CL Yadav, an independent director of RSGSM.
The brew of Chandr Haas has come from the erstwhile royals of Kanota, a princely unit of Jaipur state. Jagmohan is from the Udaipur royal family, and Kasturi and
Saunf belong to the Jodhpur royals.
Meena said the production will be done at Royal Heritage Liquor Distillery in Jhotwara in Jaipur city. The liquor will be bottled in glass and not in ceramic like it was done in 2003-2008. “Ceramic bottle adds to the cost,” he said.
The RSGSM will produce 1,600 cases each of 180 ml and 750 ml bottles. One case will contain 48 bottles of 180 ml and 12 of 750 ml. The sugar mill, which was churning out 2.4 million bottles of country liquor every day until the plants closed during the lockdown, began producing hand sanitisers from March 25.
Yadav said the five plants have produced 1.5 million bottles of sanitisers for free distribution and 2.5 million for sale from its depots.