SHAKENED WORLD BRANDS:
Oak casks, once used to store bourbon and wine, are stacking up in a distillery near New Delhi, filled with ageing whisky as workers churn out almost 10,000 bottles a day of Indian single malt Indri, recently named the world’s best whisky.
Established global brands such as Glenlivet, made by France’s Pernod Ricard, and Talisker by Britain’s Diageo fight for shelf space with local rivals Indri, Amrut and Radico Khaitan’s Rampur.
- Aditya Prakash Rao for years drank foreign brands but now increasingly buys Indian malts for himself and for gifts during festive seasons.
- Indian whisky gives Rao a sense of national pride – and goes well with Indian food – the lawyer said. “Nothing beats Indian malts in pairing with our kind of food, which is spicy. I love it.”
- Indri’s $421 (Rs 34,960) Diwali Collector’s Edition won “Best in Show” at the Whiskies of a World Awards blind tasting in San Francisco in August, beating Scottish and U.S. rivals.
Indian single malts soared 144 per cent in 2021-22, beating the 32 per cent growth in Scotch, data from IWSR Drinks Market Analysis shows. For the period until 2027, it predicts, consumption of Indian malts is set to grow 13 per cent a year compared to Scotch at 8 per cent.
Indri maker Piccadily Distilleries hopes to expand capacity by 66% to 20,000 litres (5,300 gallons) a day by 2025, reaching beyond the 18 foreign markets that make up 30% of its sales, said founder Siddhartha Sharma.
It plans to double the number of casks to 100,000 at the sprawling distillery in a farm belt 160 km (100 miles) north of India’s capital.
The local brands are not cheap: Indri starts at $37 (Rs 3,000) a bottle, Amrut $42 (Rs 3,400) and Rampur $66 (Rs 5400) in shops near New Delhi. In comparison, Pernod’s Glenlivet retails from $40 to $118, depending on age.