National Beer Day 2025 | Like most other residents of Biyonagar village in Kokrajhar district, Phonen Narzary follows the ancient way of Bathouism, the religion of the Bodo people. On a sunny afternoon, Phonen can lay out soaked rice on a wide swath of cloth. It is part of preparing a fresh batch of Zau, the traditional rice beer beloved by Bodos. He has a pot of rice fermenting in another room, a set in another process stage. Like the altar of the Sijou tree found in every Bodo household, this simple set-up to make rice beer is also ubiquitous across Bodoland. That is because Zau holds a special place in the Bodo way of life.

　　Cultural Significance of Bodoland's Rice Beer

　　Consumed in different ways on different occasions, Zau has social, cultural and religious significance. Not quite a daily quaff, Zau is a respectful offering to guests, consumed as part of festivals, social functions or special occasions, used as medicine, to strengthen social bonds, and even offered to the gods. Every ritual or custom is complete with it. Zau is also believed to have medicinal properties, from being a cure for insomnia, headaches, body aches, inflammation, diarrhea, urinary problems, and deworming to aiding in cholera treatment. During rituals and festivals such as Kherai and Garja, a customary offering of Zau is made to the divinities. It is a drink that unites as well as heals. Social bonds are formed and forged around them.

　　Whether it is weaving or cooking, hunting, agriculture or sericulture, knowledge of folk medicine or foods, the Bodo approach to life is aligned with a deep connection to nature. This is evident in the making of Zau or Zumai as well. Many varieties of Zau differ somewhat in their taste and flavour depending on the type of rice used, the method of making, and the use they put it to. Zau Gwthang, Maibrani Zau, Zau Gwran or Sereb are some of the common variants.

　　Types of Zau

　　The kind of Zau depends first on what is known as emaw or emao—a starter yeast cake prepared from soaked raw rice combined with a few medicinal herbs, leaves and roots. While various kinds of rice beer are made by communities across the northeast, the combination of herbs used differs vastly, which makes all the difference to the quality of the beer. Among the Bodo people, these plant materials could include jackfruit leaves, plantain leaves, pineapple leaves, roots of agarchita, and a wildflower called mwkhwna bibar.

　　The rice and herbs are ground together to a fine powder. The powder is mixed with water to form a thick paste and divided into portions to create discs about an inch thick and three inches in diameter. These are liberally sprinkled with emaw mwkhang—the powder from the previous batch of emaw and then wrapped in rice straw for a while. This practice of sprinkling the previous batch of emaw is believed to be beneficial to carry on the yeast culture. The discs are slowly dried—first for a few days indoors and later under the hot sun for four or five days before being put into earthenware for storage.

　　Making Rice Beer

　　For the Zau proper, a quantity of rice—between three to five kilos—is first boiled in an iron or brass cooking vessel. The cooked rice is then spread out on a bamboo mat or plantain leaf to cool. About two or four cakes of emaw are ground into a powder and then mixed with the boiled rice. The mixture is then stored in a covered maldang, a thoroughly dry earthenware vessel, for about four to eight days, depending on temperatures and the season. Water is then added to the mixture, mixed well and strained to yield a gracious quantity of rice beer, a heady and robust brew. Zau is typically consumed fresh within a week or so.

　　Zau gwthang gives the sweet-tasting Zumai Matha, which is the pure extract from the rice without any water, and then there is zau gisi, to which some water has been added. Maibrani Zau is a sweet and intensely flavoured beer made from a sticky variety of rice called Maibra. Maibrani zau is considered a good quality beer. Often served in small bowls, the sweet beer is a strong drink that is best consumed in small portions.

　　Phonen Narzary, who sells his beer for weddings, special occasions and even funerals in the village, makes zau gwran or sereb, a special distilled and filtered whisky that requires further preparation stages. The pot of fermented rice is heated with firewood, causing the vapours to move up into another porous pot above it. Above that, a pot of cool water condenses the steam, collected via an aperture into bottles and containers. This fiery, raw spirit tastes somewhat like whisky and can pack quite a punch. "Using five kgs of rice gives you about six litres of distilled zau," Narzary says.

　　There is no doubt that Zau makes for genial gatherings. Unwinding after a hard day in the agricultural fields, men and women sit around in a loose, informal circle of friends, neighbours and relatives, holding out small bowls of steel or brass refilled with fresh Zau servings. Bodo evenings are made of these moments. Given the significance that Zau assumes in multiple aspects of Bodo life, it is much more than a homemade traditional drink; it serves as the lubricant of Bodo society.

　　When to Drink Zau?

　　Zau is made throughout the year in Bodoland, and a fresh batch can be found at any time.

　　Where To Buy

　　A modest INR 100 will get you a litre of Zau, but acquiring it is tricky. No ready wine shops will sell it to tourists, and one would need to go to a village, approach a beer maker and buy it from them.

　　This story was first published on February 6, 2023