Indigenous alcohol is seeking its place in the sun — and at duty free
Imagine a holiday in Goa without a glass of Feni, or trekking in the Darjeeling hills without a swig of Chhang. Impossible, isn’t it? Yet, ask an overseas traveller about his alcoholic beverage experience of India, or the local bottle he plans to pick up at duty-free, and you’re likely to be met with a blank stare. Or be offered the local beer/wine spiel.
But it doesn’t have to be like this. India’s indigenous alcohol count may not match its cuisines, but every region has its own unique brew. A variety of reasons has, however, constrained their growth: Forget exports, not one is widely available across India. As Mahesh Madhavan, CEO for Bacardi in India, says, “To become a national drink, [any beverage] has to be available in top bars across the country before it can aspire to be a global drink.”
Consider Cachaça, a sugarcane product, 99 per cent of which is consumed within Brazil, according to Nick Woodward, director, Northern Europe and Travel Retail, of Sagatiba Cachaça. Or Pisco, Chile’s famed wine, which is distilled from grape skins and pulp after the first pressing-production; 80 percent of this is drunk by the home market. Further up the growth curve, Mexico’s Tequila — after first nailing the domestic market — now sells an astounding 65 percent of its annual production of 200 million litres in exports, an indication of just how far local brews can go.
So what’s stopping desi alcohols from going pan-Indian, like idli-dosa, or rosogolla? Beverage consultant Yangdup Lama sums it up succinctly: “First, alcohol is not regarded as a dignified subject in India. Two, there is a general lack of knowledge about it.”
However, in spite of the lack of official patronage (with the exception of one state government), a few small beverage companies have successfully co-opted traditional categories such as whisky, rum and liqueurs, and applied uniquely Indian twists to them. Do they have the potential to go all the way and wow the world, like Tequila? Or will they score a hit with desi palates first? We pick the winners, factoring in popularity, uniqueness, history/heritage, availability, commercial prospects and the success of the cuisine that normally accompanies the brew.
Goa in a Bottle
By turns considered an aphrodisiac, a diuretic, a curative, a laxative and, finally, a must-try local product in Goa, Feni has indeed come a long way. With a base of cashew apples or coconut and bottled at 42.8 percent alcohol, Feni production is more elaborate than other indigenous alcohols’, with a fermentation time of up to four days and a double distillation process.
Talking Toddy
Le Rhum de Malabaricus: The story of the birth of Le Rhum is as heady as the liquor itself. On a tour of a Dutch museum in 1999, Mohan Menon, a Kerala-based contract bottler for liquor majors, found two of his primary interests — colonial history and an ambition to create an Indian herb-and-spice-based liquor — stoked by a 17th century book Hortus Malabaricus. Written by Hendrik van Rheede, a Dutch governor of Cochin, it detailed the region’s rich herbal heritage. Menon spent six years creating a blend of rum that, while infused with local herbs and spices, maintains its identity.
Clearly, the upgraded IMFLs have all focused on niche, underserved categories, innovated with their product line-up and, in at least two of the cases, approached the overseas markets as a — if not the — primary consumer. Moreover, all these products come from comparatively small establishments, not major Indian or multi-national companies. With the exception of RSGNSML, which was lucky to start with tried-and-tested recipes, all the companies invested time in working out and refining the product formulation. In Amrut’s case, it led to a global endorsement.
(This story appears in the 28 January, 2011 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)