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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Charu Sudan Kasturi

How India’s new taste for homegrown whisky is shaking up the global drinks market

A female worker putting a label on a bottle of Amrut whisky
Amrut, founded in 1948, is one of India’s biggest whisky brands. It used to make its ‘whisky’ with sugarcane molasses, which meant the EU regarded it as rum, but now uses grain Photograph: Amrut

For years, Mohinder Singh’s trips outside India meant an obligatory stop at the airport duty-free liquor store, where he would join long queues to stock up on imported single-malt whisky. Then three years ago, he came across a brand – Paul John – that he had never heard of, at a tasting event a few miles from Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University, where he teaches politics. It was an Indian single malt; its smoky smell was rich, the taste was even better. Singh was hooked.

“That was a gamechanger for me,” he says. Singh introduced his friends to the brand, which is now their drink of choice when they meet. “Everyone loves it.”

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