July 30: One of the interesting panels at the just concluded FnB Conclave organized by BW Hotelier at Hotel Andaz, Aerocity Delhi was ‘Thinking Beyond Whiskey’ in which 7 panellists from the industry discussed future of whiskey and which other beverages formed the trends, writes Subhash Arora who found the panellists focussed and forthcoming, with consensus at the end that whiskey would be very much a part of the future though its share will keep coming down and taken by newer whiskies, wine, gin and beers like craft beers and from microbreweries
Following participated in the debate with Bikramjit Ray of BW Hotelier, moderating:
Ankur Chawla- Co-Founder ScopeBev
Rahul Singh-Founder CEO Beer Cafe
Anand Virmani- Partner of Nao Spirits, a Gin producer
Priyank Sukhija- CEO First Fiddle Restaurants
Vimal Verma –F & B Director Andaz
Vikram Achanta- Co-founder/CEO of Tulleeho
Manisha Parija- DGM Sales (North) Fratelli Vineyards
We at delWine and Indian Wine Academy, rarely talk about whisky or whiskey-it’s simply because it is a genre of spirits and as we all (except the government which generally lumps beer, wine and whiskey and other hard liquors into ‘spirits’ for taxation) know, is beyond our horizon. But it seemed to be a fascinating topic at the BW Hotelier FnB Conclave and Expo in its 4th year that one could happily attend after lunch without yawning.
One would not ‘think beyond whiskey’ in India barely a couple of decades ago. But things have been changing fast since 2001 when the government allowed the import of foreign liquor, beer and wine. A much bigger choice is available in imported liquor though the panellists rued that the products are still not available consistently due to the government policies or the people behind the retail counters, who sell only where they make that extra commission in their pocket.
Bikram Ray started by posing the question started with Anand Virmani about thinking beyond whiskey. Laced with the artisanal gin he has been making in Goa, his answer was obvious and convincing with a well-designed and packaged bottle on the table in front of the panel waiting to be opened-as if seeking the permission from the excise department. But he was sure gin was getting more popular in the world and India was no different.
Ankur Chawla, who is in the catering business in Delhi now with a very good wine background (he was the joint winner for the ‘Best Sommelier Award’ as the then Beverage Director at J W Marriott at the First delWine Excellence Awards) and felt that wine has been getting more popular regularly during the last several years. Talking about the current trends, he commented in a lighter vein about the entirely different drinking habits of people even in two parts of Delhi-either side of Dhaula Kuan, implying West and South Delhi, invoked big laughter in the audience but it did indicate about the complexity in our life style and the difficulty to pin point the consumer tastes.
One panellist said that although in places like Delhi and supermarkets in other cities the ‘beer and wine only’ licensed are available cheaper on paper, most people avoid them in restaurants because the hassles and bribe involved are horrendous and almost the same for both categories and it’s not worth getting only the wine and beer license.
Vimal Verma was very pleased about the performance of the Gin specialty Bar ‘Juniper’ at Andaz, where 80% of revenues were generated by gin sales. He was of the opinion that his clients including younger people loved to experiment and tried and loved the gin experience at the Bar.
Achanta rued that everyone was promoting new spirits from other countries but not much attention was being paid to the local spirits like Mahua*. This industry could also be developed so foreign clients could look forward to tasting typical Indian spirits. (The agave based drink from Central India earlier categorised as country liquor, is already being produced now in Andhra Pradesh to international specification after and successfully distributed in Goa with the producer eyeing the export market. Watch out for the label DesmonJi-editor). His company Tulleeho has been in the forefront of wine education and he has been enjoying 30-35% growth in the WSET courses he has been conducting for several years, indicting the thirst for the people to learn about wines.
Whiskey has been king of alco- beverages in India for a long time. But along with other drinks getting popular, there has been evolution in this segment as well with whiskies from Ireland, Japan and the US also getting popular, not to mention the single malts from Scotland, Japan as well as in India where Priyank Sukhija gave the example of Amrut (John Paul and Rampur are the more recent Indian success stories-editor). It is a fact in their favour that liquor including whiskey, gin and vodka have no shelf life. Panellists wondered about Old Rum being such a popular Rum brand in India that no other brand had come to compete with it and there was room for a new Brand.
Rahul Singh emphasized that the bane of all the problems and confusions in India was in our very Constitution that encouraged the States to enforce prohibition under section 47 which empowered the States to take independent charge of excise rules and taxation. Each State had different sets of rules and they were enforced without looking at the impact on the businesses or even consumer. Alcohol had become a big tax earning source for the States which would never allow GST to be applicable uniformly. Different legal age limit in every State was also a cause of concern as was the problem with the hotel management institutes which taught the subject but were unable to provide practical tastings due to this limit. One has to find ways and means to work within the existing system, he said.
On one side, the panellists cited Haryana where there was monopoly in marketing alcohol while Bihar had gone for complete prohibition; Yet there was one State that penalised you for not meeting the increased targets on spirits. The inconsistency at the level of various States was the biggest headache for the trade.
Manisha Parija felt that more and more wine was being produced and India was making better quality wines. She gave the example why wine ought to be consumed more be saying that the excellent lunch served by Andaz, just before this panel had every dish asking for wine and no other alco- beverage would be a better match with the food.
At the end there was consensus that whiskey had an assured future and faced no threat and would continue to grow but other segments like wine, beer and other liquors are inching forward and grabbing more and more share with higher growth and will most likely cut into the total share of the expanding market.
Subhash Arora
* After the Article was completed and ready for publishing, I saw this Article in Sunday Times which talks essentially about the government’s decision to allow Indian spirits out of the ‘country liquor’ and making path for internationalising them-editor
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