16 local botanicals that Indian gin makers from Stranger & Sons to Amrut are adding, and why

Galgal is one of 11 local botanicals in Himmaleh Spirits' Kumaon & I dry gin.

About two years ago, Charnelle Martins and her colleagues decided to add an interesting dynamic to Stranger & Sons gin by ageing it in sherry casks. Sherry’s fruitiness and delicate floral aromas made for an ideal foil to Stranger & Sons’ robustness, says Martins, who heads distillery operations at the Goa-based Third Eye Distillery that makes the gin. That’s not the only thing she did with the gin that was rested in ex-Amontillado and Oloroso sherry casks for over a year. It was also infused with wild honey and cascara. The latter further elevates the languid gin, lending it an uncommon fruitiness.

Stranger & Sons Sherry Cask Aged Gin

“Sherry’s aromas go well with Stranger & Sons’ crispness and the slow, delicate ageing doesn’t overpower the gin. The cascara, which is macerated, brings another layer of fruitiness to the gin,” says Martins. Martins considered numerous botanicals for the sherry-cask-aged gin before she homed in on the ingredient that she sources from Chikmagalur, in Karnataka.

Cascara, the dried skin of coffee cherries, is just one of the several less-known botanicals that gin makers across the country are using to distinguish their products. Some of these reflect a unique terroir, while others are inspired by the culture of a region.

Cascara

Mayukh Hazarika’s Cherrapunji gin, which was launched in Meghalaya last month and is made from rainwater harvested in one of the world’s wettest places, is infused with several botanicals from the North-East, including juniper from Sikkim, sweet aromatic Khasi mandarin, fragrant peels of Kaji Nemu or Assam lemon, and peppercorns from the Khasi Hills. Then, there’s the stand-out and perhaps pivotal infusion of second-flush tea from the Lushai Hills in southeastern Mizoram that imparts a smoky, creamy flavour to the gin. Hazarika, a big fan of Lapsang Souchong, travelled across the North-East to find an ingredient that approximated the flavour of the smoked black tea from China before encountering the smoked tea leaves in the Lushai Hills.

Cherrapunji Gin is made with Sikkim juniper and botanicals like smoked black tea, Khasi mandarin, Kaji Nemu peel and peppercorns from the Khasi Hills in the North-East.

Like Hazarika, Ansh Khanna and Samarth Prasad, too, foraged locally for the botanicals that went into their Kumaon & I gin. The duo, co-founders of Himmaleh Spirits, which is located in Kashipur, near Nainital, in Uttarakhand, are positioning their gin as a showcase of the natural bounty of the region. Kumaon & I uses, among others, timur pepper, which belongs to the Szechuan pepper family and is popular with mixologists, black turmeric, galgal, a local citrus variety, and the kinnow mandarin. “Timur is widely used in the Garhwal Himalayas. It is used to make chutneys and for medicinal purposes. When you taste it, you experience this little tingle on your tongue,” says Khanna. Prasad, who has roots in Uttarakhand, says that the gin is also infused with two very Himalayan botanicals that have never been distilled before: kalmegh and thuner, medicinal plants that are native to the region. “We use the bark of the thuner, which imparts an earthiness to the gin, while kalmegh adds a herby vibe,” says Prasad.

Kumaon & I

Amrut Distilleries’ Nilgiris, launched in 2021, pays homage to the eponymous mountain range in south India and the spices grown in the region. The botanicals in the gin include mace, nutmeg, Nilgiris tea and betel leaves. “The betel leaf has a lot of cultural significance in India and especially in the southern parts. Besides being consumed as a digestive, it is also used in rituals,” says Trivikram Nikam, joint managing director at Amrut Distilleries. “We experimented with several varieties, including some from Kumbakonam, in Tamil Nadu, before finally choosing the GI-tagged Mysore variety. It adds a nice, spicy undertone to Nilgiris.”

Amrut Distilleries' Nilgiri Gin is infused with betel leaves from Mysore.