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Greater Than Gin, yes, what can be?

In the last couple of years, there has been a count of nearly 15 new gins entering the market, reviving the gin spirit, so to say. Of that 11 are from Goa. “It started off as a fluke as we decided that Goa had the best bottling partners for us. Since then, it seems quite a few others have taken that to be the precedent set and got to work,” that is Anand Virmani, the founder of Nao Spirits, manufacturers of Greater Than and Hapusa – premium crafted gins that are making waves in the markets available.

Virmani has his own take on how the crafted gin segment is evolving. He believes that Goa is not any more liberal than many other states in the country when it comes to excise policies. He dismisses it as a factor for launching Greater Than in Goa. Similarly, for the availability of botanicals, he states that the main ingredient for gin has to be either imported our sourced from the Himalayas in the north and that Goa is no different than any other part of the country when it comes to sourcing botanicals. As regards to water quality which Goa touts about, he is of the view that since all water in the production process has to be demineralised, the oriGinal water quality should not really matter.

But when it comes to Goa as the watering hole, he believes so that it is a great marketing tool. “The spirit of trying out new things is certainly important, especially since so many tourists come to Goa and take back gin bottles with them.”

Ambrosia: What is the reason for resurgence of gin which had taken a beating when vodka entered the Indian market?

Virmani: Vodka did this to gin in the 1950s globally. Gin has come back primarily because of the resurgence of cocktail bars which propagate classic cocktails, many of which just happen to use gin as their base. Ambrosia: There is a talk about uniqueness of the botanicals that goes into gin making. From a consumer perspective, what does botanicals signify?Virmani: Botanicals are what separate one gin from another. They are the main flavour components in any gin. Also, only high quality gins like ours use actual botanicals as opposed to artificial flavouring used by the cheaper, cold-compounded gins.

Ambrosia: What kind of growth are you seeing in the overall Gin market in India?

Virmani: The premium+ gin market in India (which excludes the low-end mass produced gins) are growing phenomenally well; easily around 30%+ CAGR. Ambrosia: We see a lot of premium brands being launched, is it because they are not meant for the masses?Virmani: Craft gin can only ever be premium. A low-priced gin, will not ever be a craft product. Even so, we aim to make our gins as accessible as possible.

Ambrosia: Could you tell us about the spark that led to the creation of Greater Than?

Virmani: The spark was quite simply the growing disbelief that India was not able to produce a single brand of gin that we could proudly call our own. It did not make sense to us, especially since India was the birthplace of the Gin & Tonic as well as the heart of the world spice trade.

Ambrosia: Which are the markets it is presently available now and what are your expansion plans?

Virmani: Our gins are present in seven different states across India currently as well as in over 15 countries outside India. We continue to grow as far and wide as we can without over-stretching ourselves. Assam has been our newest addition within India while New Zealand has become our most recent export market to come online.

Ambrosia: How is Hapusa different from Greater Than?

Virmani: Hapusa is a very small batch produced gin. It is primarily made with Himalayan juniper along with other botanicals found and sourced from across the country.

Ambrosia: Which are the markets it is present in – how do the two compete with each other – what is the USP of both?

Virmani: Greater Than is a classic London Dry Gin and is ideal for making cocktails or Gin & Tonics. Hapusa however, is far more characteristic and best enjoyed as a sipping gin or included in stirred cocktails like the Negroni or Martini.

Ambrosia: What next from ‘Nao Spirits’?

Virmani: Lots more

Radico Khaitan to launch 3 Premium Whiskies in the next two years

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Liquor manufacturer Radico Khaitan’s performance has been exemplary in these difficult times, highlighted by record sales and earnings. With the expectations of continued earnings and growth, the company is on course to better its performance in these difficult times. The Chief Operating Officer of Radico Khaitan Limited, Mr. Amar Sinha gives an overview of the company’s performance in these Covid times.

Is Radico focusing on premium brown spirits for growth?

Amar Sinha (Sinha): Yes. Radico Khaitan offers a wide array of products – 15 organically-grown brands including 5 millionaire brands – hence, we have something for every age group and in each category. The company, while enhancing the products in the white spirit category, is also focusing on the premium brown spirits while identifying India-specific consumer preferences in the category. In fact, among our successful premium offerings in the brown spirits category, we have 8PM Premium Black Whisky which is a master’s selection for the true connoisseurs of fine taste. 8PM is the flagship brand of Radico Khaitan and 8 PM Premium Black Whisky is a notch above offering which reflects the true essence of quality drinking.

Another essential driver of Radico’s growth in the brown spirits category is Morpheus Brandy (only brandy in the premium and super premium segment) which commands over 65% of the market share in the country. In the rum category, 1965 Spirit of Victory has been doing phenomenally well in the premium rum segment. Our most recent offering, Rampur Indian Single Malt Whisky, which was launched in the Indian market in February 2019 was rated amongst the top 5 world whiskies by “Whiskey Cask Magazine” US even before it was launched in the domestic market.

Which are the new products in brown spirits you are planning to launch?

Sinha: As a country, India has majorly been a brown spirits market. Though people are now open to experimenting more and showing an inclination towards white spirits, the brown spirits segment is continuing to dominate the world over. Of late, there has been a significant shift in people’s consumption pattern with many switching to more premium liquor because they have been mostly home-bound for over a year now which boosted savings to a large extent and that allowed them to move towards premiumisation. To cater to the consumer demands, Radico Khaitan is on course for the launch of more brands in the premium brown spirits space during FY2022 across categories. There are at least 3 Premium Whiskies in the brown spirits category that are currently on the drawing board which would be launched over the next 2 years. These are one segment above each other and with very high contributions in terms of price positioning. Radico has a history of launching at least 12 successful brands in the last decade and half.

What are the plans for 8PM this fiscal?

Sinha: RadicoKhaitan’s primary focus for the brand will be to take 8PM Premium Black Whisky pan India as it is currently available in 16 States. An extension of 8 PM Whisky – a flagship brand of Radico Khaitan – 8PM Premium Black Whisky successfully touched 1 million cases in March 2021, within just 2 years of its launch in the Indian retail market. This brand has been on the growth trajectory paved by its parent brand 8PM Whisky, which itself was a runaway success. It has been named the 5th Best Indian Whisky by the Spirits Business Brand Champion. We have introduced a pocket pack for 8PM Premium Black Whisky in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Telangana, Assam and Uttar Pradesh, which will soon be launched in other markets across the country. This is the first hipster pack in a glass bottle in this segment. 8PM Pocket pack is an innovative 90 ml pack size in look and feel and gives the feeling of a hip flask in glass bottle. The pack is launched to lure the consumer with its modern style and promote trial amongst new consumers.

In this digital age, what is your campaign strategy?

Sinha: While focusing heavily on brand expansion, we will also be launching campaigns with the brand ambassador Tiger Shroff to promote and celebrate the positioning of the brand. The Bollywood actor is extremely popular among the youth and is full of energy and vigour – traits that completely sync with the brand; hence we believe that the launch of the campaigns will further strengthen 8PM Premium Black’s positioning and take it to the next level. We are actively eyeing the digital medium for engaging with the brand loyalists and curating exciting digital campaigns across all social media platforms in order to enhance brand visibility.

India Glycols Ltd forays into IMFL

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India Glycols is a leading company that manufactures green technology based bulk, specialty and performance chemicals and natural gums, spirits, industrial gases, sugar and nutraceuticals. After becoming a market leader in the Country Liquor segment with the famous brand Bunty and Bubly, the company is now ready to make their foray into the IMFL with their new launches, Amazing Vodka and Single Reserva Whisky. Ambrosia spoke to the Management Team of the brand in an exclusive interview.

With chemicals being the primary cornerstone of India Glycols Ltd business, the company continues to enjoy an undisputed leadership position in certain segments over two decades. And liquor being a by-product of the chemical distillation process, it was only natural to foray into this business.

While country liquor industry was the mainstay of the liquor division with their popular brand Bunty and Bubly selling 1.32 crore cases per month as against the next best-selling brand, which is less than 50%, the company will shortly launch their first 2 products in the Vodka and Semi Premium Whisky category, Amazing Vodka and Single Reserva Whisky.

The Chairmanof India Glycols Limited (IGL), Mr. U S Bhartia felt that IMFL Division should also be nurtured and brought up especially following the success of its country liquor. These sentiments are also echoed by Rupark Sarswat, CEO, India Glycols Ltd ‘the logical step for us when we started to explore consumer market was to look at country liquor and then much more market intensive areas like IMFL. We are looking to engage in the market, continue to take feedback but make sure that the way we build our business is slow, steady and solid.’

With the consumers constantly looking to upgrade and premiumisation being the focus for IGL ‘the vodka will be launched in three variants Amazing Plain Vodka, Amazing Green Apple Vodka and Amazing Orange Vodka for the time being while the Single Reserva Whisky will be launched in the semi-premium category with a unique blend and offering’ said Raju Vaziraney, Advising – President, IMFL for India Glycols Ltd.

Despite the flat growth in the vodka industry, the decision to foray into the vodka market stems from the fact that the consumer is moving towards flavours adds Vaziraney. “You will be happy to know the vodka market is 60% flavours and 40% plain and the consumer is looking to flirt. Flavours are the future of the vodka market and they will drive the growth of vodka.”

Although the precise price point for the Vodka isn’t known yet it is expected to be in the popular category where it will compete with the likes of the most popular brands by market share in the segment. However what’s interesting about the vodka is that it is five time distilled liquid which IGL feels will provide a very smooth and refined taste to the consumer.

When it comes to the Single Reserva Whisky, it will be a unique offering which is expected to be priced under Rs. 1000 depending on the State that you are in. The whisky is blended with Indian Single Malts making it a unique offering. This is a new concept of blending with Indian single malts which was done after doing extensive blend research with the help of the known blender Peter J. Warren.

Currently IGL plans to focus on these two brands and are looking to grow their portfolio stepwise following the success of these brands. ‘We are not going to take any shortcuts to success, put more money, gain volume and build stocks. We want the consumer to be delighted’ adds Vaziraney.

The IMFL brands are manufactured at the company’s Gorakhpur plant. S.K. Shukla, Head of Operations & Business Manager said that, “I have been at the Gorakhpur plant from where we started our IMFL journey since last year May 2020. Besides that global pandemic till date the achievement has been excellent and we hope that this new product Single Reserva Whisky and Amazing Vodka will be great success in the future with the help of Ambrosia’s support.”

B. P.Singhal, Procurement and Projects engineering, IGL adds that we have selected best of the packaging material, bottle design, which can create a stir in the market, mainly for the Vodka. We are looking to target the youth because vodka is typically consumed by the youth. Keeping these factors in mind we have selected the bottle and packaging for both the products.

With the overall market for Vodka estimated to be about 6 million cases, IGL is looking to grab 15% market share in the vodka segment. A success that T P Sharma, Sales Head(HOD), IGL is confident in replicating following their Bunty Vodka Green Apple Flavour Tetra Pack launch in UP, which has already cornered a market share of 42% in six months.

Both the products will be rolled out in the UP and Uttarakhand markets first with Delhi and few other States as the next options in four-five months time. By the festive period IGL is looking to have their products in more States. Both Amazing Vodka and Single Reserva Whisky will be sold via the on-trade channels with IGL looking at ATL and digital activities to promote them.

Shriharsha Bandaluppi, EA (Executive Assistant) to CMD and General Manager Strategy, said, “we are coming up full throttle by using the social media channels like Facebook, Instagram. We are also identifying the key influencers, all sorts of new age trends etc. specially strengthening the brand position with shoots, signage, posts etc.”