Team Blitz India
PICCADILY Agro Industries Limited, or simply Piccadily, may sound very British but is actually an Indian distillery which is giving the Scotts of the world a run for their money on single malts. Its single malt brand Indri, spelt very innovatively in English as well as in Devnagri script as on their bottles, was this year named as the world’s best whisky.
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 US rivals.
At its distillery near New Delhi, the company churns out almost 10,000 bottles per day of Indri. As single malts and golf tend to go hand in hand, it is now also builiding a threehole golf course to lure connoisseurs and tipplers.
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. 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 have rocked India’s whisky landscape, industry executives and analysts say.
In response to the drink-India trend, global brands that have focussed on single malts aged in Scotland are looking to Indian whiskies to tap the boom in one of the world’s biggest whisky markets. With Bollywood stars and Indian music, Pernod last week uncorked its first made-in-India single malt, the $48 Longitude 77, with plans to expand sales to Dubai and then the rest of the world.
“We are extremely bullish about this category. It has seen unprecedented growth,” said Kartik Mohindra, Pernod India’s chief marketing officer.
