If the 2010s were all about the resurgence of gin, the 2020s are all about the rise and rise of Indian gin. Distilleries that are thinking out of the box, mixologists who are resetting India's artisanal cocktail template, and well-heeled Indian travellers who are back on the road after the brief pause during the pandemic. Indian gins are enjoying the global spotlight like never before.
If you're shopping for a fine Indian gin this Diwali season, you will spoilt for choice. Himmaleh Spirits in the heart of Uttarakhand has just released Kumaon and I, India's first provincial gin with a farm-to-bottle approach. All the botanicals are sourced locally in tandem with farming communities in the region.
In May 2023 Broken Bat by Nao Spirits was picked as the Best Gin in Asia at the Gin Guide Awards 2023 The gin makers opted for a process that used Kashmir willow (used for cricket bats) to celebrate India's love for cricket instead of traditional oak barrels. Origins: The earliest references to Gin probably go back to the 16th Century. By that time there were many Flemish distillers (in modern-day Netherlands and Belgium) that were distilling Genever, the precursor to Gin with juniper berries.
Genever was a common fix for stomach and kidney ailments. The British shortened Genenver to Gin and by the 1700s it became one of the most widely distilled spirits in Britain. The first versions of Genever also used herbs and spices like anise, caraway, and coriander along with Juniper berries.
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