Brewing Indigenisation, Filtering Westernisation: A Socio-Historical Study of Locally Brewed Alcoholic Drinks in Bhutan

Amongst the various indigenous societies across the planet, alcohol has always played a pivotal role in shaping and preserving different forms of social, cultural, communal, personal, and familial values in an inter-generational and transcultural manner. With the advent of European colonisation, over different segments of time and space across the globe, this community practice was disrupted and dismantled as unmodern, unhygienic, non-civilising, and dehumanising. However, such community practices in Bhutan remained unaffected till the beginning of the 21st century. In 2007, with the establishment of a democratic governing system, as Bhutan started welcoming foreign investors, the West (Europe and USA) invaded the local markets of Bhutan. Gradually, the individuals were attracted towards the western-branded alcoholic drinks and the consumption of the locally brewed alcoholic drinks started declining. Keeping these arguments at the forefront, this article makes an effort to socio-historically analyse the various ways through which the culture of brewing, consuming, and sharing the locally brewed alcoholic drinks functions as a tool to resist the westernisation of the culture of drinking in contemporary Bhutan.