On a damp, drizzly August evening in London, in 2018, Devika Bhagat and Khalil Bachooali were confined to a pub, desultorily sampling gin cocktails proffered by a chatty bartender. The bartender was curious about why India didn’t make any gin of its own. Bachooali, who had imbibed “two martinis in quick succession” and was testily waiting for the English summer to live up to its promise, looked at his spouse and said, “Let’s do it. Let’s make a great gin.” Bhagat, who had introduced Bachooali to gin while they were dating, was surprised. “He had come up with 100 business ideas, but there was something about this one. So I said okay, but let’s first educate ourselves about gin.”
Three years down the line, after several visits to distilleries abroad and researching recipes, Bhagat and Bachooali will launch Tamras in the third week of December, in Goa, where it is distilled. The name is a nod to both the lotus flower and copper (in Sanskrit), and Adventurist Spirits, their company, is inspired by both fictional as well as epicurean adventures.
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Tamras is rich, cohesive, and crisp. It is elegantly juniper-forward, but with a citrusy bounce, and has a lingering finish with rumours of spice. There are many reasons why it is so. Adventurist Spirits is the only independently owned gin distillery in Goa, and the couple, who co-run an advertising production company in Mumbai, have a lot more control over how their product turns out.
Their 230-litre copper still, named Odysseus after the hero of the Greek epic Odyssey, is from the acclaimed German company Mueller. Bhagat has already decided on the name of their next still and it’s one that evokes adventure — Phileas (Fogg, from Jules Verne’s Around the World in 80 Days). “We also have a little potstill called Alice, which we use for experimentation. And she really takes you down the rabbit hole!” says Bhagat, who is also a screenwriter and has co-written, among others, the languid — and under-appreciated — Manorama Six Feet Under (2007).
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The recipe for Tamras was developed with the help of Julia Nourney, an award-winning master distiller and blender. Before the pandemic, Nourney, who is based in Germany, spent time in Goa scouting the local markets for botanicals. “We even tried chikoo (mudapple), but let’s just say it didn’t go down well,” says Bhagat
“We were always on the search for the perfect martini or Negroni,” says Bachooali. “Both of us had our own ideas of what the gin should be like. Our test was: can it hold its own in a martini? Can it hold its own as a gin and tonic?”
Tamras uses 16 botanicals; among them, juniper berries from Macedonia, coriander seeds from Morocco (with a different flavour profile as compared to Indian coriander), black and green cardamom, lemon verbena (“more ‘herbaceous than lemony,” says Bhagat); sweet lime, grapefruit, Cubeb pepper from Indonesia, lotus flower and seeds, and fennel.
The neutral spirit for the gin is made from basmati rice and the botanicals are distilled in groups. The duo is especially proud of the de-saponification process Tamras goes through. De-saponification, often employed in the cognac business, involves, says Bachooali, taking a full-proof spirit and diluting it down over at least 20 days to bottle strength. “You allow the gin to rest, or even age, but what you’re trying to do is keep it as crystal clear as possible. You’re also allowing the molecular structures of the various botanical oils to perfectly marry, thereby preserving the original intensity of the bouquet and aromas. This flavour-locking technique allows for a rich, silky mouthfeel,” says Bachooali.
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Up next for Bhagat and Bachooali, after Tamras finds its feet, is an aged gin. “We would love to do a ‘distiller’s cut’ in about a year, and also aged gin — in numbered bottles,” says Bhagat. And, maybe, rum, which the duo is looking at very closely. “You know, nobody is really ageing rum in India, right? And we are a country that grows the world’s best sugar cane,” says Bachooali.
Tamras, which will be priced at Rs 1,950 in Goa, will hit Mumbai in January and other metros by the middle of next year. But if you are in and around Goa towards the year end, or in Mumbai next month, you’d do well to pick up a bottle. This is a gin for the serious gin enthusiast. It can be drunk neat; it can hold its own in a gin and tonic, and it will, in all probability, both shine in a martini as well as elevate it.
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