What is Apong? The local alcohol mentioned in Family Man S3

High in the misty hills of Arunachal Pradesh, where the air smells of woodsmoke and wet rice fields, there’s a drink that suddenly gained national curiosity after being mentioned in The Family Man Season 3, Apong.

Dark, earthy, and wrapped in quiet mystique, it’s a traditional rice beer made only by the women of several tribes, including the Galos. Outsiders may think of it as just a local brew, but in Arunachal, Apong is memory in liquid form, a ritual stirred with patience, intuition, and inherited craft. But what exactly makes this drink so special? Scroll down to find out...

What it is

Apong is a rice-based traditional beer, deeply woven into daily life and celebrations across Arunachal Pradesh.

Its darker variant, often called Kala Apong, gets its deep colour from burnt paddy husk and carries a smoky, earthy flavour. But the mystery isn’t just in the taste. Across many tribes, only women are allowed to brew it. That rule isn’t modern; it’s a centuries-old cultural law that gives women a sacred role as the custodians of fermentation, flavour, and ritual.

How it’s made

Apong isn’t brewed with written instructions; it’s made from memory and instinct.

The process begins with rice, sometimes black, sometimes red, steamed gently and laid out to cool on wide bamboo trays. Meanwhile, paddy husks are burnt down to a fine black ash. This ash is mixed with the cooled rice, coating every grain in smoky dust that shapes the drink’s colour and depth. The heart of the brew lies in the starter cake.

Each household creates its own blend of powdered rice and wild herbs foraged from the surrounding forests.

Crushed into the rice-ash mixture, this starter triggers a slow, natural fermentation that can take anywhere from a few days to nearly two weeks. Once sealed in earthen pots or bamboo cylinders lined with leaves, the mixture transforms quietly. When ready, it’s filtered through a straw and leaves. What emerges is Apong, sometimes pale and mild, sometimes dark and smoky, but always unmistakably alive with local character.

It’s poured into bamboo cups, shared freely, and never consumed in isolation.

The women behind the brew

Across tribal communities, Apong brewing is a woman’s domain, a source of pride, identity, and cultural power. Young girls watch their mothers and grandmothers test the scent of fermenting rice, listen for the subtle fizz that signals readiness, and learn the quiet rhythms of the craft. In a society where roles are deeply symbolic, brewing Apong becomes a way for women to shape celebrations, rituals, and even the emotional temperature of the home.

They prepare it before harvest festivals, weddings, community feasts, and ancestral ceremonies. Men may enjoy it, but the making. The part that carries knowledge, patience, and intuition belongs to women alone.

The taste of tradition

Apong isn’t crafted for intoxication; it’s crafted for connection. The first sip is soft and earthy; the next faintly herbal from the wild leafy starters. The darker version, Kala Apong, brings a smoky depth from the burnt husks, a flavour that feels both ancient and intimate. Locals often say no two brews ever taste the same. Each household’s Apong reflects the maker’s hand, the season, and even the day’s humidity. During festivals like Mopin or Nyokum, bamboo mugs are passed from hand to hand, symbolising unity and gratitude. Before anyone drinks, a small portion is offered to spirits and ancestors, a quiet ritual of respect.

Preserving a quiet legacy

As bottled drinks and modern lifestyles creep in, fewer young women are learning the traditional craft.

Forest herbs are harder to access, and migration adds its own challenges. Yet in many villages, the brewing continues, not out of nostalgia, but out of cultural pride. For the women who make it, Apong isn’t just a heritage beverage; it’s agency. It ties them to their land, their stories, and their matrilineal strength.

A sip of Arunachal’s soul

To drink Apong is to taste the hills, the smoke curling from paddy fires, the wild herbs crushed by hand, the cool rice fields, and the women who carry the tradition forward.

It isn’t bottled, branded, or commercialised. It lives in kitchens, in laughter, in rituals, in stories passed on softly. And thanks to its unexpected cameo in The Family Man S3, this quiet drink from the Northeast finally has the rest of India curious about what locals have known for centuries: Apong is not just alcohol. It’s identity. It’s memory. It’s the soul of Arunachal poured into a bamboo cup.