Feni Colada

A Goan twist on the Piña Colada using local cashew or coconut feni instead of rum, showcasing India's only geographically protected spirit in a tropical format.

The Feni Colada is a Goan variation on the Piña Colada that substitutes feni — the traditional distilled spirit unique to Goa, India — for the standard rum, creating a cocktail that bridges Goa's specific coastal heritage with the Caribbean tropical drink format. Feni (sometimes spelled fenny) is produced in two forms: cashew feni, distilled from the fermented juice of the cashew apple (the swollen peduncle of Anacardium occidentale, which ripens alongside the cashew nut), and coconut feni, distilled from toddy (the fermented sap of coconut palm flower stems). Goa was a Portuguese colonial territory from 1510 until its annexation by India in 1961, and feni production during the Portuguese period was a cottage industry producing the local spirit from Goa's abundant cashew and coconut resources. The Government of India granted feni Geographical Indication status in 2009, restricting the name to spirits produced in Goa — one of India's first GI protections for a distilled spirit. The Piña Colada, created by Ramón Marrero Pérez at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan, Puerto Rico on August 15, 1954, and named Puerto Rico's national drink in 1978, provides the template: the Feni Colada combines feni's distinctive astringent-fruity character with coconut cream and pineapple juice.