Ilocos Region — Basi

Basi is the traditional sugarcane wine of the Ilocos region in Northern Luzon — fermented sugarcane juice aged in burnay clay jars with additions of duhat bark, camias, anise, and other local botanicals. It is red-brown, tannic, somewhat acidic, and deeply aromatic. The Basi Revolt of 1807, when the Spanish Crown monopolised basi production, is one of the key events in Philippine colonial history — demonstrating how deeply embedded this beverage was in Ilokano cultural identity.