Looking to position Cazulo Premium Feni as an international brand in 5 years: Vaz

HERALD: How big is the premium feni market in Goa?

HANSEL VAZ: Ironically there wasn’t any such category, at the time when Cazulo Premium Feni was launched 6 years ago. We launched with the audacious ambition to create a new category that could be discernibly differentiated from the regular feni's available in the market. This is thus a nascent segment- still growing exponentially even after 6 years, as people slowly discover what a fine feni is all about. The segment is not just a higher price point as is commonly thought, but its very important that the feni we make is able to push boundaries of taste, bouquet, and manufacturing standards of process-make feni that is different from the ordinary-that 'wow factor'.  With enough legroom in this segment spurred on by our success, in the past 4 years, 5 new brands have also been launched in the same segment, brands that are bold and are ready to push the envelope developing characters that are subtle and for refined palates. For me this is just the beginning of a segment that is growing vertically and horizontally.

HERALD: How would you describe a consumer of premium feni?

HV: Earlier the most common complaint; was that 'Bottled feni' lacked the characteristic soul of regular artistically distilled feni. Cazulo sought to change that; to bring the best traditionally distilled artisinal feni to the world. While most people mistakenly think the fine packaging of Cazulo Premium Feni has been created specifically for the tourist or for the export market, but in fact for me the Premium Segment is about creating ‘fine feni’ specifically targeting the well worn, tried and tested palates of the aficionados and the curious- who know their stuff. Little did I know, today my biggest audience are infact young millennial Goan's keen to rediscover and be proud of their roots, who now find drinking feni is as cool as holding a cup of Starbucks Coffee! The time is come that feni becomes the next hipster drink.

HERALD: What is the percentage of feni consumers in the overall alcohol market in Goa?

HV: The sale of feni in both retail and wholesale is rather haphazard with no credible data collection, thus offering fertile ground for streamlining of the industry. This industry chaos has led feni to play ‘catch-up' even in its own backyard, losing out to the financial and resource muscle of international and domestic players in the alco-bev industry, who are ahead of the game and have been able to push feni to the outsides of the margins of consumption in today's market. Cazulo Premium Feni has been very successful in convincing people that feni is not just a souvenir drink, but a respectable white spirit. Because of resource constraints we have very little reliable data available, so our numbers are purely speculative at best.

HERALD: What are the challenges you face as a manufacturer of feni in the State?

HV: Feni like every traditional occupation in the rest of the world is facing a crisis- keeping up with the times! The standards at every stage of manufacturing, process, accounting, regulation and sale for established spirits in the alco-bev industry are light years ahead of the feni industry. We need investment, in the form of resource-financial, manpower and policy, otherwise feni will still be a fledgling spirit like it has been. We need the government departments to seriously look at feni as a new avenue for revenue generation, only then will the industry get impetus.

HERALD: What is the response to feni from other parts of the country?

HV: It’s been a roller coaster ride but the response has been extremely positive. Cazulo Premium Feni has not just put feni on the global spirts map, but gotten consumers from outside Goa to favourably look upon feni in new light. Last year BBC Goodfood rated feni as one of the Best National Spirts from Around the World', this is a far cry from the time the Time Magazine in 2010 listed feni as one of ‘Top 10 Riduclously Strong Drinks’ worst drinks in the world a few years ago! So times have changed and the efforts of individual brands as well as the behind the scenes work of The Goa Cashew Feni Distillers and Bottlers Association is finally bearing fruit in changing this perception. Cazulo has very strongly driven feni as a cocktail drink, as I recognise that cocktails have been a time tested tool to introduce a new spirit in a fun way to a new audience- the response has been overwhelming.

HERALD: Do you export Cazulo to other parts of the world. Where and how much?

HV: Yes, but exports is not my area of focus at the moment. It is important that Cazulo further establishes itself in our home terroir before we decide to pitch tent overseas. I do not mass produce feni, and so do not generate surplus volumes. I am in the capacity to only export Cazulo Premium Cashew Feni, but no scope for export of Cazulo Premium Coconut Feni and Cazulo Premium Dukshiri which are very tedious to produce. At present we are cultivating volume to sustain ourselves locally with a little accretionary surplus of a few thousand litres of cashew feni every year that I divert to feed my overseas exports. Besides I am very picky with whom I am dealing with and which country, so despite multiple inquires from multiple countries, I have filtered exports only to Canada and Australia.

HERALD: What are your plans for the next five years?

HV: Several, I keep 5 year milestones. We achieved ours last year- establishing ourselves as the top feni brand in Goa. Now looking forward, I look to position Cazulo Premium Feni as an international brand in 5 years, for which I have already begun working in earnest; working with high-end bartenders, setting up a tasting room and distillery experience. The ambition may sound outlandish, but we are a brand already punching above our weight and who are bold enough to dream big.

HERALD: What would you like to see the government do to encourage the sale of feni in the State and outside?

HV: The governments of late and their departments have been very forthcoming and cooperative. But there are three objectives of utmost urgency. First we need the Department of Excise and FDA, the enforcing arm for regulation in the feni industry, to further flex their muscles to reign in rogue ‘fly-by-night’ operators who are doing great damage to the industry by selling substandard product with misleading information on their labels. Secondly we need to the help of the government to ensure regulation and create an ecosystem to raise the general standards of distillation, processing and selling of feni to truly achieve the objective standards of a fine GI feni. And thirdly we need Goa Tourism to realise that feni could serve as a new vertical to drive Goa as an exotic destination and promote feni as the ‘World’s Most Exotic Spirit’, so that just like wine tourism, Goa can attract people to rediscover Goa all over again.