🍯 Food & Drink
Ara — traditional rice & maize spirit
Rural Bhutanfrom $5–$25
Home-distilled Bhutanese liquor — rice, maize, wheat or millet, often herb-infused.
About
Ara is the everyday spirit of rural Bhutan — distilled twice in copper stills from rice, maize or millet. Commercial ara is bottled in Thimphu; farmhouse ara is traded informally.
Alcohol content varies 20–40%. Often served warm with butter and scrambled egg ("ara poa") after a cold trek. Test the source — badly distilled ara can be unsafe.
⚠️ **Export note:** Can be taken out in sealed bottles (duty-free allowances apply).
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