Beer in India

freenote

Question from a novice,alcohol?purchased in Goa no problem at all.Down to Kerala,beer please sorry,can't sell it,or it arrives in a teapot(holy teapot),or in a brown paper bag under the table.there were various explanations ,TO stop peaple falling of the cliff,police (law).backsheesh .What is the correct reason,any help please

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albaruni

permits/ prohibition.

Railway

Not every hotel / restaurent /shop is allowed to sell alcohol anwhere in India. You probably asked for beer in one such place.
Otherwise, beer is kerala is never a problem.
I heard somewhere recently that there is prohibition in Gujarat but can't be sure.

neoncarrot

Gujarat IS supposed to be a totally dry state. I was told this was out of respect to the fact it was Gandhi's home state, but I dont know if this is true. Gujaratis pour in their thousands across to the Island of Diu at the weekends to get totally hosed.

I guess from the reference to "cliff" that freenote is talking about Varkala? My undertsnding there is that booze is out because Varkala is a Holy town, something often true of Indian pilgrimage type towns, Pushkar being another example.

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albaruni

Oh put a sock!! We went to the biggest temple town in South India(a nice little sothern california style mountain drive) called tirupathi where we were plastered continuously from the freely available hooch and beer...and rum. It's probably not such a rule, though they get overrun by waves of sanctimoniousness once in a while.

Gujarat is supposed to be dry, but there are places you can buy whiskey at cost(ie the same price as in bombay) if you know where to go. (there used to be a busstation in ahemedabad, for instance which had a speakeasy that was run by a local municipal corporator...)

Apana

WARNING !

Liquor stores in many states will be shut from tomorrow, probably until the 12th or 13th, during the counting of votes. So you need to stock up TODAY !

Apana

lazyvegan

gosh if they tried to close the liquor stores here during an election, guess who wouldn't win?...yeah...the guy currently in charge....

sudheer poppa

There is some kind of a rule that alchohol is not to be served 500 metres from the shore line/schools/religious places etc. ( God knows how it flows in Goa)

Plus the need for a permit to sell alchohol is important. In Kerala, KTDC ( govt tourism company) gets to sell in all the hot spots. Maybe a monopolistic kind of an action by govt. But for all you need, head for the KTDC beer parlour when in need.

And prohibition from the eve of election is initiated by the election commission because too many candidates werre using it as a technique to get people to vote for them by giving free booze.

I got beer as special lassi in Goa on the election day !

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Dr Funkenstein

Yeah, it's not a hard and fast rule.

Hampi's a holy city and I got a beer there no problem. I just had to keep the bottle on the floor so no-one could see what it was. Fair enough.

I asked at the Wine Shop here in Manali if they'd be shut during the election and got this reply:

"Yes. Shutters will be down and you will have to knock."

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freenote

i have been answered, ,holy places, politics, monopolies , permits, rules, must be india

ikimasho

on may 1st i was i ft cochin and planned a little goodbye beer celebration before i headed to camp yoga (no booze, no meat, no, no, no, etc).....i met some friends at the hilton (their hotel, not mine!!) we tried to order beer and were told that no alcohol is sold anywhere on the first of the month. the waiter explained that the first of the month is payday. if they sold alcohol, indian men would drink their paycheques away instead of bringing home the bacon!!!

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Alan D

Dr Funkenstein

You should have no problem in Manali.

We were there during an election a few years ago. The shutters on the booze shop were down but there was a little open window with bars - you showed your white foreign face, gave your order with the money and out popped a bottle of whiskey, rum or whatever, wrapped in newspaper.

A fine example of Indian flexibility

auli

I feel a bit silly asking this, but the other half is worried he'll have difficulties finding his pint after a hard day's work walking around...
So the question is: Goa is probably OK, but what about south from there???

Bryan

Special Tea...that great tea pot of fortified ...eh...specially raised and fattened kingfishers for our delight
I don't even want to start to imagine what they do to the old monks to make the rum
Must be terrible ...but theie pain and suffering is surely a case of we sin they suffer ...a trully enlightened philosophy god bless em
Beer is readily available most places Its just that you sometimes have to look a little harder
Can you tell i'm bored in work and dreamin of a 'kings'! There's a thing, how many kings does it take to make a bottle ...ansswers on a postcard to indiamike.com

If you like a beer at mucho cheapo prices and some nice French food
Get yourselves over to Pondicherry while in the south. As this is a union territory the standard taxes on alcohol dont apply and the prices are equivalent to those in Goa (which are also very cheap compared to the rest of India ...

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zubaier

hmm yeh i was wondering about the availability of booze in india too... is it impossible to find outside goa?

im gonna be there a month, and dont see myself lasting that long without a pint or three!!