Colombo, March 11 -- In a bid to attract over 40% of the country's illicit liquor drinkers into a much safer drinking culture the Department of Excise is mulling to introduce a new 'quarter' bottle with a lesser strength of arrack for an affordable price to match 'Kasippu', the Daily Mirror learns. Following the initial green light received from the Committee on Public Finance (COPF) last Friday to introduce a less strong and less expensive alcoholic beverage for the underprivileged consumers,the authorities have started carrying out research into the matter.

The Excise Department submitted a draft of the proposed Excise Gazette No.1/2025 to the COPF where the matter had been debated extensively, and no objections were made to the introd...