Genies In A Bottle

How Sakshi Saigal, Rahul Mehra and Vidur Gupta the trio behind Third Eye Distillery changed the way we look at Indian spirits, and made USD 4 million in the process

- SUMAN MAHFUZ QUAZI

There’s a reason why the seemingly maniacal William Legrand from Edgar Allan Poe’s celebrated 1843 short, The Gold-Bug is fictitious. The everyman seldom chances upon treasure or wealth and those who do amass fortunes, meticulously plan for it. Such is the case with the trio behind Third Eye Distillery TED), a private company that owns the citrusy and wildly popular gin Stranger Sons, alongside their newest drop Short Story, which has a gin, vodka, and rum. The company also recently acquired Svami, a premium mixer brand, and has the rights to import the French-owned Caribbean rum, Plantation. Together, TED is now more of a house of brands than a mere gin maker.

Founded by Sakshi Saigal, Rahul Mehra, and Vidur Gupta in 2018, TED has grown to become a formidable business in the Indian homegrown spirits market, and their experience has helped shape it that way. Gupta, who is an economist by study, had acquired knowledge about scaling factories through the process of setting up another food business. Saigal came armed with experience in logistics and impact investing. And Mehra, who had already been part of various F&B establishments in the country including Gateway Brewing Company, a beer brand) was aware of the legalities, and also the processes and nuances associated with distilling a spirit. Gupta too knew a little about distilling, thanks to his time spent in Scotland, where whisky rules the roost. This helped them, to some extent, chart out a blueprint for a spirit brand that could be considered premium’ in India and possibly also, garner global acclaim which they did). All this is to say that, if there ever was a triad cut out for such a job, this was it.