Newari rice liquor, poured from a height into clay cups at festival feasts. Newar households in the Kathmandu Valley distil it and offer it ritually to the ancestors and household gods before anyone drinks.
Distilling is licensed or prohibited in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on a marcha starter cake carrying a specific local set of moulds and yeasts.
What goes into it
- rice
- marcha starter cake
- water
How it is made
Cooked rice is mixed with a crushed starter cake and left to ferment for a week or more, then distilled in a stacked clay or copper still over a fire with a cold-water condensing pan on top. The pour from a height into the clay saucer is part of the ritual, not the making.
How long it takes: a week or more to ferment, then distilling
How it is eaten
From a clay saucer at Newar festival feasts, poured from a height, after the offering to the gods.
History
Distilled by Newar households in the Kathmandu Valley and offered ritually to the ancestors and household gods before drinking.
Frequently asked questions
What is Aila?
Aila is a wine & spirit from Nepal: newari rice liquor poured from a height into clay cups at festival feasts. Distilled by Newar households in the Kathmandu Valley and offered ritually to the ancestors and household gods before drinking.
How is Aila made?
Cooked rice is mixed with a crushed starter cake and left to ferment for a week or more, then distilled in a stacked clay or copper still over a fire with a cold-water condensing pan on top. The pour from a height into the clay saucer is part of the ritual, not the making. It takes a week or more to ferment, then distilling.
Can I make Aila at home?
No, and the atlas gives no method for it. Distilling is licensed or prohibited in most of the atlas’s readership, and the ferment depends on a marcha starter cake carrying a specific local set of moulds and yeasts.
What goes into Aila?
Rice, marcha starter cake, water.
How is Aila eaten?
From a clay saucer at Newar festival feasts, poured from a height, after the offering to the gods.
