- Title: India's love of homegrown single malts shakes up global whisky brands
- Date: 20th December 2023
- Summary: AUDIENCE WATCHING INDIAN ACTOR ARJUN RAMPAL (LEFT) AND PERNOD RICARD INDIA CEO JEAN TOUBOUL (RIGHT) UNVEILING SEAGRAM'S LONGITUDE 77 COLLECTION AT LAUNCH RAMPAL (LEFT) AND TOUBOUL (RIGHT) POSING WITH PACKAGED LONGITUDE 77 BOTTLE WOMAN IN AUDIENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) PERNOD RICARD INDIA CEO, JEAN TOUBOUL, SAYING: "Longitude 77 is inspired by India and I really think that
- Embargoed: 3rd January 2024 08:35
- Keywords: Amrut Glenlivet India Indian brands Indri Longitude 77 bar distillery liquor liquor shops single malt whisky
- Location: GURUGRAM, KARNAL, HARYANA/BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, INDIA
- City: GURUGRAM, KARNAL, HARYANA/BENGALURU, KARNATAKA, INDIA
- Country: India
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Arts/Culture/Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVA002J6WK66N
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING
Lured by India's rapidly changing whisky landscape global makers like Pernod Ricard who long sold single malts mostly aged in Scotland are increasingly looking at Indian whiskies to tap the boom.
With Bollywood stars and Indian music, Pernod last week launched its first $50 made-in-India single malt "Longitude 77", with plans to expand sales to Dubai and eventually rest of the world.
As India comes into its own as a maker, not just consumer, of whisky, its single malts are reshaping the country's $33 billion spirits market.
"Longitude 77 is inspired by India and I really think that India will soon be proud of it. It's a whisky that is made in India by Indian, for Indian and soon, to the world," Pernod Ricard India CEO Jean Touboul said at the glittering launch of the Indian single malt whisky in Gurugram, a New Delhi suburb.
Oak casks, once used to store bourbon and wine, are stacking up in a distillery in Karnal, some 160 km (99 miles) from New Delhi, filled with aging whisky as workers churn out almost 10,000 bottles a day of Indian single malt Indri, recently named the world's best whisky.
Sugarcane and mustard fields, not peat bogs, ring the distillery, where the two-year-old Indian brand's owner Piccadily is ramping up production and building a three-hole golf course to lure connoisseurs and tipplers in the whisky-loving nation.
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.
Unlike many Asian countries where beer dominates alcohol sales, India is predominantly a whisky-drinking nation. Global awards, increased affluence and a mass of drinkers trying new brands while cooped up during COVID-19 have rocked India's whisky landscape, industry executives and analysts say.
For years, Sagar Bansal drank foreign brands but now increasingly buys Indian malts for himself and as gifts for overseas visitors.
"We experimented with Indri (Indian Single Malt Whisky) and we found it very good. Being an Indian brand, we also gifted that to some of our visitors from abroad and they also liked it," Bansal said, adding that a "Made in India" whisky gave him a sense of national pride.
Indri's $421 Diwali Collector's Edition won "Best in Show" at the Whiskies of the World Awards blind tasting in San Francisco in August, beating Scottish and U.S. rivals.
In response to the drink-India trend, global brands that have focused on single malts aged in Scotland are looking to Indian whiskies to tap the boom in one of the world's biggest whisky markets.
Diageo, Pernod's larger rival, last year launched its first Indian single malt, Godawan - named after a large, endangered Indian bird - that sells in five foreign markets, including the United States.
Pernod's Glenlivet, long India's top-selling single malt, grew 39% by volume last year but was dethroned by Amrut, which spiked 183%, Euromonitor data shows.
Managing director of Amrut Distilleris, Rakshit Jagdale said they had nearly trebled their capacity and were still struggling to see the demand for their whisky.
Indian single malts soared 144% in 2021-22, beating the 32% 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% a year compared to Scotch at 8%.
The local brands are not cheap: Indri starts at $37 a bottle, Amrut $42 and Rampur $66 in shops near New Delhi. In comparison, Pernod's Glenlivet retails from $40 to $118, depending on age.
(Production: Bhushan Kumar, Sahiba Chawdhary, Sunil Kataria) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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