A few months ago, Diageo India, a local branch of the world’s largest liquor company, called to ask if I was interested in coming to Jaipur to participate in the launch of a new single malt whiskey Godavan.
This, in itself, was not particularly unusual. Diageo has several malls, of which the singleton is probably the most you have heard of these days.
But there was a catch: it wasn’t a single scotch malt, he said. It was made in Rajasthan.
As it turns out, whiskey is one of the few things I know. I have traveled from distillery to distillery in Scotland, trying to understand what the Scotsmen were saying in Kilt. I am a defender of Quaich (Kilts optional), a small association of men and women dedicated to keeping the Scotch tradition alive. And I also made a documentary on Glenlivet, one of the most famous malts in the world (not owned by Diageo but by its great rival Pernod Ricard), who spent many days in Scotland immersed in the stories of shooting and Scotch whiskey.
So, I had a big wine multinational trying to push Indian malt.
So far, I guess we all know the difference between IMFL (Indian-made foreign liquor) and real whiskey. IMFL is usually the only flavored wine from the middle to the bottom of the market. Until recently, most real whiskeys were made all over the world, mostly in Scotland. That is why there has been a lot of talk in India about scotch instead of Indian whiskey.
Over the course of this century, this has begun to change. For starters, not all excellent whiskeys are made in Scotland. The Japanese, for example, now make excellent whiskey, which even Scotch whiskey fans can enjoy better than Scotch.
Nor is India the only IMFL market. A few years ago, I wrote on these pages about my visit to the Amrit Distillery in Bangalore. The makers of the nectar set out to create real malt whiskey and made it so successful that Scotch whiskey critics began to rate the nectar much higher than well-established Scottish single malt.
But Amrit (like Paul John, Goa’s single malt) was an operation run by a small entrepreneur. I liked whiskeys but frankly, their main claim to fame was that if you drank them blindly, you would think they were Scottish single malts.
So why was Diageo making Indian malt whiskey, with a huge Scotch single malt portfolio? And why is Rajasthan Sangh proud?
I never got a chance to find out. I missed the Jaipur launch. Bottles brought to the Delhi market have been sold within six days, said Aman Dhal, a wine importer and distributor.
After that, Chef Manu Chandra said that he was going to Cannes for a dinner hosted by Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur. But while there, he would also participate in the launch of Godavan malt whiskey, as he played a role in deciding what the final taste would be.
Indian Whiskey Launched in Cannes? Now, I was more curious. And, when they invited me to a lunch party in Dubai, I went.
I’m glad I did. Because it’s not just a very good whiskey, the story behind it is the story of opening a new field. According to Vikram Damodaran, Chief Innovation Officer, Diageo India, the company has a dedicated group to look after craft products.
One of the group’s biggest victories was the launch of a rice-based craft whiskey called Epitome. Apparently, United Spirits (as was the case in Vijay Mallya’s day before Diageo took the lead) kept several cans of rice alcohol and forgot about them.
When the current management met the casks a few years ago, he had an idea: why not use the liquids in these casks (now, well-matured and delicious) to make special editions of whiskey? It is possible to make whiskey from rice wine (although wheat and barley are used more). They put the wine in barrels, made it even older, softened the edges, and were happy when everyone tasted the small amount of craft whiskey they produced. Epitome was a limited edition but it became a runaway hit.
His second idea was to make whiskey in Rajasthan. They call it Godavan after the endangered Rajasthani bird, the Great Indian Bustard. This time, they went all the way to Terror. Whiskey was made from barley grown in Rajasthan. They made it using local water in the same distillery in Rajasthan. People forget, Damdaran says, that Rajasthan has an old tradition of making and distilling spirits.
The idea behind Godavan was to make whiskey out of the Rajasthani tradition but still had a world-class feel to it, equal to the excellent Scotch single malt. At the launch in Dubai, which I attended, various whiskey lovers in the city praised the quality of the whiskey and its two variants. There will be more projections in the coming months. London is probably another. And Godavan will continue worldwide.
All of these raise many questions. First of all, why is Diageo, whose portfolio includes some of the world’s best Scotch single malt, having so much trouble making Indian malt? I asked Shweta Jain (and one of the parents of Damodaran, Godavan), the company’s chief business development officer, if it would not be easy to sell more talismans and singles instead of persuading Diageo to try the world. Whiskey from Rajasthan?
The short answer seems to be: yes, maybe, but that’s not the point.
According to Jain, single malts are no longer just a Scottish thing. The best whiskeys are made around the world. If India can do this, if we can make excellent single malt, why stop us from doing so because we have access to Scotch?
Diageo is not marketing whiskey globally as Indian whiskey. Instead, the campaign focuses on terror and flavor, encouraging consumers to equate it with any excellent whiskey from anywhere in the world.
But there are also solid business reasons for the launch. Consumers around the world are always looking for something new, something special. Due to its high quality, Godavan fits into that slot. Also, there are artisanal / craft elements. I have seen for myself in Scotland how much distillers like to talk like their whiskeys are fun little concoctions that they dreamed of the next day. In fact, the Scotch whiskey industry is the best oil-filled machine to ship millions of bottles worldwide.
Godavan, on the other hand, is a craft product that relies on barley from a few farms and the same distillery. While this may seem like a huge global success, there is a limit to how many bottles can be made. This, Jain says, is a craft product with an element of craftsmanship. (And lack, I think.)
Diageo’s craft division will launch more products, Damodaran says. Two whiskeys are just the beginning. Clearly, he thinks a new space has opened up between the huge IMFL market and the big global brands. This is a place that depends on discerning drinkers who need a little more premium, not necessarily in terms of price (the cost of a godown is almost the same as in Scottish single malt) but in terms of taste, lack and attention to craftsmanship.
This is a bold experiment. But based on the response to global projections and sales figures in India, this is an experiment that has worked. Expect more craft launches and a new generation of high quality Indian spirits in the coming years.
The views expressed by the columnist are personal
From HT Brunch, June 11, 2022
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