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Alcoholic drinks from India

Mingri, lohpani and bhangchang (Monpa successive-draw beers)

Mingri, lohpani and bhangchang are three beers the Monpa of Tawang draw one after another from a single batch of cooked grain. Mingri is filtered off after 4–5 days with no water added; the filtrate ferments 2–3 more days into lohpani, and a last 4–5 days gives the weak, whitish bhangchang.

A short entry: the sources we found record only what is said here about Mingri, lohpani and bhangchang itself.

DocumentedAlcoholic drinks10 days – 13 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedVillage process with no fixed amounts; the survey gives only the order of steps and the times.
Finger millet, barley, rice or maize[SHRI2012]
Starter (pham)Rawat et al. list pham as the Monpa starter for these beers[RAWAT2021]
A little waterOnly for the last draw, bhangchang[SHRI2012]
Starterpham, the starter Rawat et al. 2021 list for the Monpa

Total time across the recorded steps: 10 days – 13 days

Start
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What changes: Grain cooks until soft, then cools

Step 1 of 6
Cook grain until soft, then cool
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented

Output: cooked grain.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Mingri, lohpani and bhangchang are three beers the Monpa of Tawang draw one after another from a single batch of cooked grain. Mingri is filtered off after 4–5 days with no water added; the filtrate ferments 2–3 more days into lohpani, and a last 4–5 days gives the weak, whitish bhangchang. Made in 6 steps over 10 days – 13 days. The longest step, first fermentation, takes 4–5 days (Shrivastava K 2012).

Key numbers
Main step4–5 daysReported[SHRI2012]First fermentation

What makes this one different

Madua and opo are drawn once, by pouring water through the fermented mass. The Monpa take three drinks from one batch in turn, the first with no water at all.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Mingri (Hill Miri)Nath et al. 2019 and Rawat et al. 2021 list a rice mingri of the Hill Miri made with a starter called bokha.
  • Bangchang and sinchang (Bhutan)Bhutanese farmhouse beers, made from wheat or maize depending on the region, with starter cakes of dried bark, leaves and powdered maize or wheat (BeerAdvocate feature).

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

Shrivastava et al. 2012, in a survey of 21 tribes in 14 districts of Arunachal Pradesh, describe the three drinks as coming from three stages of fermentation of the same material.

  1. [SHRI2012] Shrivastava K., Greeshma A.G., Srivastava B. "Biotechnology in tradition: a process technology of alcoholic beverages practiced by different tribes of Arunachal Pradesh, North East India." Indian J. Traditional Knowledge 11(1):81–89, 2012, text (flow chart 6 is an image and was not read)paper
  2. [NATH2019] Nath N., Ghosh S., Rahaman L., Kaipeng D.L., Sharma B.K. "An overview of traditional rice beer of North-east India: ethnic preparation, challenges and prospects." IJTK 18(4):744–757, 2019, Table 1paper
  3. [RAWAT2021] Rawat J.M., Pandey S., Debbarma P., Rawat B. "Preparation of alcoholic beverages by tribal communities in the Indian Himalayan Region: a review on traditional and ethnic consideration." Front. Sustain. Food Syst. 5:672411, 2021, Table 1paper
  4. [s5] BeerAdvocate, Brewing in the land of the thunder dragonweb