WHEN Suraj Shenai launched rice beer in the Goan market in June this year, it was more than just another beer. It was a distillation of the grain culture of a region infused with a complex history and cultural ethos that even predates the arrival of the Portuguese over 500 years ago.

It was also the culmination of a process to document paddy farming and identify ‘heirloom’ varieties of rice which have been progressively replaced by the more robust ‘Jyoti’ variety.