Rise of the Indian Liquor Brands

How premium Indian alcobev brands are disrupting the market.

- JOE C. MATHEW

WHEN DELHI'S Aditya Aggarwal enrolled for a course in business economics and entrepreneurship in the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2012, the liquor business was the last thing on his mind. When he returned to India in 2019, he had behind him a good stint as a management consultant with PwC, but his client experience still had not exposed him to alcoholic beverage (alcobev) business. Four years since, 29-year-old Aggarwal is the founder and managing director of three-year-old Spaceman Spirits Lab (SSL), which sells premium Indian gin Samsara, with six flavors, in 12 states.

“When we started making gin in 2020, it was a craft project to make a few bottles and distribute it among friends and family members during the pandemic. But when we launched the product (manufactured at a leased facility in Goa), we got immense love, which we could not have imagined for a product like ours. That was the beginning,” says Aggarwal. In December 2023, the company launched its second product, premium rum Sitara. Aggarwal says he will close FY24 at 3,00,000 gin bottles with merchandise value of roughly ₹68 crore. “That means ₹25-30 crore net revenue. We should be India’s second-largest gin brand by volume.”

Next projects include collaboration with Mexican distillers for a Tequila brand and building own facility for single malt whisky. In March 2023, a leading Indian brandy maker, Tilak Nagar Industries, picked up a 10% stake in SSL, providing the start-up pan-India marketing support. For a company promoted by someone with no experience in alcobev manufacturing, it has been a dream run so far.