A colonial-era drink, gin is getting a contemporary makeover at Indian bars

International brands are eyeing the Indian market today, even though premium gin consumption is just 1% of total consumption

In 2015, when Anand Virmani and Vaibhav Singh were planning the menu at Perch, their wine and coffee bar in Delhi, they realised something was missing from it — a good Indian craft gin. Three years later, when the duo launched India’s first artisanal gin, Greater Than, in Goa and Bengaluru, some feared their timing was unfortunate. Although the last few years had seen the entry of many premium international gin brands like Monkey 47, Hendrick’s and Tanqueray in India, the Global Gin Insights Report 2018 from Just-Drinks.com, the online news, insight and research portal for the beverage industry, had reported that the Indian gin market was declining even though a third of the world’s largest gin markets had reported double-digit growth in 2017.

Contrary to expectations, however, 2018 has seen a burgeoning interest in gin in India — not only among tipplers but, more importantly, among bartenders and pub owners in the metros.

Consider this: in February 2018, when Bengaluru-based Big Brewsky had a “Gin Revival” promotion, it served 950 gin cocktails in 25 days at just one of its three outlets. “After the promotion, many of our guests wanted these cocktails to be put on the regular menu and, today, 30 per cent of our cocktail menu is gin-based,” says Karthik Kumar V, head of beverages at the Big Brewsky Brewing Company.

In Delhi, the award-winning Juniper Bar at The Andaz by Hyatt is dedicated to gin and has created quite a buzz with its array of 40 in-house gin infusions and cocktails. In Mumbai, a small but determined club of gin aficionados, The Gin Motley, has already begun to meet regularly to savour variants of their favourite tipple, collected from trips around the world. And even as Nao Spirits, the makers of Greater Than, are ready to launch their second gin offering, Hapusa, this August, Indian tipplers will be able to taste another artisanal Indian gin, Stranger and Sons, around the same time.

Could it be that the beverage introduced in India over a century ago by the British is finally coming of age? Many believe it is. Globally, gin is hipper than ever before, and the spirits industry is all agog with success stories of gin distilleries like Kyrö Distillery in Ostrobothnia, Finland. Kyrö originally wanted to make a single malt, but since whisky needs to be aged at least three years before consumption, the good people there decided to bide their time by making some rye gin. The drink, called Napue, was adjudged the “World’s Best Gin for Gin & Tonic” at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in 2015, and its sales went from 500 bottles a month in 2014 to 120,000 bottles in 2015. So much so that the distillery was able to release only 360 bottles of Kyrö Single Malt Rye Whisky in 2017 as it was too busy making gin instead.

Photos: Courtesy Nao Spirits

Many of these international brands are looking at the Indian market today, for even though premium gin consumption is a mere one per cent of the total spirit consumption in the country, the Indian market for gin is ranked fifth-largest in the world. The price points of these international and craft gins are high, though, making it expensive for bartenders to serve premium gin cocktails. A bottle of Tanqueray, for instance, costs Rs 2,000 in Delhi, while Hendricks and the craft brand, Monkey 47, are priced at Rs 5,000 and Rs 7,000 respectively.

This is why the entry of Greater Than gin in Karnataka and Goa in 2017 has been a game changer of sorts. Pegged at Rs 750 upwards for a bottle, depending on which state one buys it in, this is India’s first quality gin crafted for regular use. “At this price point, Greater Than has the potential to transform the Indian bar scene,” prophesises Vimal Verma of Delhi’s Juniper Bar. “In the coming years, many of us will be watching the performance of Greater Than with a great deal of interest.”

While the big foreign brands have added to the buzz, a heady cocktail of canny marketing and creative product development is now driving India’s gin revolution. “Gin scores over other spirits because most cocktails made with it require few ingredients,” says Virmani. “This versatility and ease of use make it popular with bartenders.”

Many, in fact, believe that in India, the popularity of gin has been driven by bars and pubs. “To me, what makes gin so interesting is that it is the only white spirit that has the character and robust flavours associated with darker spirits,” says Verma.

Indeed, a look at bar menus from across the country shows that some of the most exciting new recipes today are being developed with gin. Juniper Bar’s best-selling infusion, Delhi Sapphire, is a secret blend of citrus notes in a stunning orange hue. Other exotic flavour infusions they serve include oak smoke, salt and timur pepper, hot enough to numb the tongue. Big Brewsky’s version of the Gimlet uses a kaffir lime infusion. The Bombay Canteen is serving Sunshine, a turmeric-based gin cocktail. Delhi’s Indian Accent is rustling up a mean Curry Collins with fresh curry leaves and lime, and a spicy Cardamom Fizz.

As Indian bars undergo a mini-transformation of sorts, the profile of the average Indian tippler seems to be changing as well. At Juniper, Verma finds that the majority of the customers are well-travelled 30-somethings who know a lot about what they drink. “Gone are the days when Indians drank whisky because that’s all they knew,” he says. Gone also are the days when gin was the old-fashioned beverage elderly “uncles” drank, drowned in an overly sweet, synthetic tonic, at the Gymkhana.

Greater Than, India’s first artisanal gin, is quality gin crafted for regular use

The folks at Big Brewsky echo this. “Earlier gin was the favourite drink of older men, but now it has become the preferred cocktail base for youngsters,” says Kumar. Which is why few were surprised when last month Bengaluru hosted “Gin Sling”, touted as India’s first gin festival, in a hip, young co-working space. Almost 5,000 people showed up over two days to taste the varieties of gin and cocktails on offer.

During the Gin Sling, as a select few got their first taste of Hapusa, Virmani spoke at length about how they sourced the botanicals for it. They stumbled upon juniper grown in Uttarakhand in Delhi’s wholesale spice market, Khari Baoli. It was called hapusa in Hindi, and that’s how their new gin came by its name. The story got industry observers wondering if the global interest in the provenance of gin botanicals had finally moved India-wards.

The makers of Greater Than, will launch their second gin, Hapusa, this August

Rahul Mehra, whose craft gin Stranger and Sons is expected to debut this August (at Rs 1,855 in Mumbai and Rs 1,450 in Goa), certainly thinks so. Stranger and Sons is made with only Indian botanical infusions which are so distinct that it is being marketed as a sipping gin, rather than a spirit to be drunk with mixers. “We wanted our gin to have a distinct, ‘local’ vibe,” he says. In the same vein, Virmani and co are calling Hapusa the first Himalayan dry gin since all its botanicals and spices (coriander, turmeric, dried ginger, dried mango and gondhoraj lemon, in addition to Himalayan juniper berries) are locally sourced.

“I feel convinced that the gin market in India is going to become huge in the years ahead,” says Sahil Jatana, co-founder of Svami Drinks. “Which is why we decided to bring in good-quality mixers with all natural ingredients and less sugar to the market.” Svami Drinks has recently launched a range of artisanal tonics with cucumber, grapefruit, sloe and more. Today, many of the upscale bars and restaurants that stock premium gins also pour Svami tonic water, which comes in three flavours — cucumber, grapefruit, rosemary and plain. “Good tonic, which isn’t overly sweet like canned tonic tends to be, is a big value-add to gin,” says Verma. Juniper serves Svami and East Imperial tonic water with its gins.

All in all, the outlook for India’s gin market is definitely looking better than it did last year. Mehra, who’s one of the founding members of The Gin Motley, wants the club to include as many members as possible. “The idea is to start several conversations around gin and get more people to start enjoying it,” he says. Meanwhile, the buzz in the spirits business is that, following the launch of Stranger and Sons and Hapusa, Indian bars could see some more locally made gins soon. Whether the drink that was once referred to in the UK as “mother’s ruin” (because of its disastrous effects on the family and economy) manages to race ahead of vodka and rum in India remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: the old-fashioned club staple of gin and tonic will never quite be the same again.