Tasmac to sell 90ml liquor bottles this Diwali in Tamil Nadu

CHENNAI: For tipplers, Tasmac is planning a cracker of a Diwali. After much internal discussion, the sole agency involved in legal procurement and sale of alcohol has got the govt nod to sell 90ml bottles of liquor.
While some neighbouring states have been selling such low-quantity liquor in tetra-packets, Tasmac will stick to plastic bottles that work out cheaper for the distillers and bottlers.

After a meeting with distillers, Tasmac has worked out the manufacturing cost of these ‘cutting’ bottles.
An average brand of this quantity is likely to be priced around 80 (a 180ml bottle, the smallest now available, is priced around 140).
“Most probably, 90ml bottles will be on our shelves this Diwali. Manufacturers have sought time not exceeding six months,” said a Tasmac official.
Tasmac officials had visited Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka where liquor is sold in 90ml bottles and tetra-packets to study how successful the small liquor varieties are and if there is a demand for them.
“In states such as Telangana, the 90ml liquor bottles account for a major portion of the total sale of alcohol across the state, while in states such as Kerala, they have not picked up as much,” said a government official. The state govt’s move to introduce these ‘nip bottles’ gathered momentum after the recent Kallakurichi hooch tragedy that claimed the lives of 67 people who drank illicit liquor laced with methanol.