Indonesia is a country that has many traditional products. One of the traditional products is a traditional drink. Of these traditional drinks, there are some traditional drinks that contain alcohol.
Although Indonesia is known as the largest Muslim country in the world, traditional liquor is also part of Indonesian culture. One of these traditional drinks is the rat stamp drink.
Cap Tikus is a traditional Minahasa alcoholic drink from fermentation and distillation of Nira Water from Aren Trees (pinnata). This drink has been known for a long time by the Minahasa people, and is generally consumed by aristocrats or by the general public in traditional events.
In the ceremony to go up to the new house, the Maengket dancers sing the song Marambak in honor of the god who made the house, the ancestor of Tingkulendeng. The host must hand out a Cap Tikus drink to Tonaas, the traditional ceremony leader goes up to the new house while the dancer sings “tuas e sopi e wale”, meaning pour Cap Tikus, O host.
This liquor is famous even to the Ternate Islands. Information about Cap Tikus in Ternate was written by world-traveling clerk Columbus from Spain named Antonio Pigafetta. After their ship passed two Sangir and Talaud Islands on 15 December 1521 they arrived at the port of Ternate and were treated to the King of Ternate with arak made from boiled tuak water.
Although the book “Antonio Pigafetta’s World Tour” published in 1972 pages 127-128 does not explain where the King of Ternate got the Cap Tikus drink, it needs to be examined that the Ternate community does not have a “Batifar” culture so that it is likely that Cap Tikus drinks are the same as imported rice. to Ternate from Minahasa.
The alcohol content of Cap Tikus depends on the distillation technology. So far, farmers still use traditional technology, where saguer is cooked and then the steam is channeled and channeled through bamboo pipes to a shelter. These droplets became known as the Cap Tikus drink.
This traditional alcoholic drink was formerly called Sopi. However, the name Sopi changed to Cap Tikus when the Minahasa people who were undergoing military education to face the Java War, before 1829, found Sopi in blue bottles with a picture of a mouse’s tail. Sopi is sold by Chinese traders at Fort Amsterdam, Manado.
To be sure, the Cap Tikus drink has always been very familiar and popular among Minahasa farmers. Generally, Minahasa farmers, before going to the garden or starting their work, drink a shot of Cap Tikus for body warmth and encouragement to work.
This traditional alcoholic drink called rat stamp is now packaged in medium-sized brown bottles. The cap on the bottle is put on excise paper and on the bottle a brand label and a description of the drink is attached. Of course, this drink can be used as a souvenir.
Although Indonesia is known as the world’s largest Muslim country, this drink is legal because more than 200 thousand people work as sap tree farmers as raw material for making Cap Tikus drinks).
This traditional, alcoholic drink warms the body. So, are you interested in trying this traditional drink?
