Procera Gin and 4 more spirits to sample this summer

Maestro Dobel Silver Tequila, Goenchi Coconut Feni, and Pitbull Rum.

Goenchi Coconut and Cashew Feni

About a year and a half ago, just as the pandemic was receding, siblings and first-generation entrepreneurs Yash and Tulika Sarwadekar developed itchy feet and backpacked across the country. Their last destination was Goa, where they hail from and have an ancestral home that is surrounded by coconut groves and rice fields. “That was where we got introduced to feni, which is still made the way it was centuries ago. We both fell in love with it and thought if mezcal and tequila can be ‘cool’, why not well-made feni?”

Yash, 27, a former flight attendant, and Tulika, 21, a marketing and branding professional, then learnt the art of distilling feni, researched the market, and incorporated Goenchi, which means ‘of Goa’, in March last year. Their Goenchi coconut feni was recently soft-launched in Goa and the cashew feni is expected to follow soon.

“Our ingredients are responsibly and hyper-locally sourced. Both the toddy and cashew juice are naturally fermented by wild yeast without the addition of sugar in a traditional copper pot still at our micro-distillery,” says Yash.

Rs 1,449, in Goa

Pitbull Rum

Former alco-bev industry professionals Kalpesh Parekh and Karishma Chandy always wanted to launch a spirits brand of their own. Late last year, with the launch of Pitbull Rum, they finally got their dream project off the ground. “It took a long time to zero in on the spirit we wanted to launch, but we finally figured it had to be rum. Something more premium than Old Monk, but still affordable,” says Chandy, co-founder at 100Proof Spirits. Pitbull Rum, which is made in Aurangabad with sugarcane molasses and blended with barrel aged spirits, has no added sugar. Chandy and Parekh launched Pitbull in Mumbai and Pune in December 2022 and are targeting other cities in the west in the next couple of months.

Rs 800

Procera Gin

Procera Gin, founded by financier-turned-distiller Guy Brennan, is named for the African juniper (Juniperus procera) that forms the core of the spirit and grows on trees in the Kenyan highlands. The other botanicals that feature in this crisp gin include acacia honey from Somalia and mace from Zanzibar. The gin, launched in 2018, is distilled at Procera’s craft distillery in Nairobi. “We use freshly harvested, undried juniper and that plays an important role in the freshness it exudes,” says co-owner Devika Bakshi Hirdaramani. The bottles are hand-blown in Nairobi and come with a hand-carved palm wood stopper. The gin, says Bakshi-Hirdaramani, will soon be available via The Vault, the Mumbai-based fine spirits company.

Approx Rs 27,000

Maestro Dobel Silver Tequila

The Maestro Dobel Silver Tequila should ideally be chucked into a refrigerator and retrieved on a warm night. And if you happen to do that, you’ll find that while it can light up a margarita, it can also be sipped on its own, with just a dash of lime. The tequila, which is made with Blue Weber Agave from Jalisco and distilled in copper stills, is smooth, crisp, and herbaceous, with a buttery palate. The Maestro Dobel brand, launched in 2008 and imported into India by Mumbai-based Monika Alcobev, is one of the stars of the drinks giant Becle, which is the world’s largest tequila company, and owns, among others, Jose Cuervo and Bushmills.

Rs 10,750

Dewars 8 Japanese Smooth

The latest in the Dewar’s cask series, the Japanese Smooth is blended scotch whisky that has been finished in mizunara oak casks. Launched in Delhi and Mumbai towards the end of last year, the 8-year-old double-aged whisky exhibits, according to the company, “subtle floral honey and heather notes along with complex sandalwood aromas on the nose followed by cinnamon spice on the palette.”

Rs 2,800