India Inspired Gin Brands

India inspired gin brands, is a collection of international gin brands that take inspiration from our magical subcontinent. If there is any spirit with which India is connected and has a huge influence on is Gin.

For centuries India has been an important hub for sourcing spices and botanicals on the spice route and is the birthplace of gin and tonic as well. Before producing its own quality gin’s India has been an inspiration for gin producers. Let’s take you through a list of such brands.

Bombay Sapphire and Star of Bombay

One of the most popular and highest-selling premium gin brand in the world. With its origin in England, it is a beautiful sapphire blue bottle with a portrait of Queen Victoria on it. It gets its name from the popularity of gin during British raj in India and a beautiful 60-carat sapphire called ‘Star of Bombay’, mined from Sri Lanka.

Similarly, Star of Bombay the premium category gin bears the name of the stone itself. it has two extra botanicals than the Bombay Sapphire.

Jodhpur

Produced in London, this gin takes its inspiration from ‘Blue City’ of India, Jodhpur. Jodhpur was an important city in the spice route. It celebrates the city and the tradition of spices in India, also has Jodhpur written in Hindi on its shoulder.

Maharani Gin

It is a Malayalee-Irish gin made by Bhagya and Robert is a result of a blind date led love story and marriage. It is produced by Rebel City Distillery in the historic town of Cork, Ireland. Their love of Indian spices inspired them to make this gin. The gin is flavored with 9 botanicals out of which pomelo, nutmeg, mace, and cassia are sourced from Waynad, Kerala.

The label has ‘Viplava‘ (rebel spirit) written on it in Malayalee scripture, a word that encapsulates the rebellious history of both Ireland and Kerala.

Mumbai Gin

Made by a gentleman named Bobby who runs a large catering operation serving Asian food in the U.K., he wanted to make a gin that compliments Indian flavors of the food they served. The main influences from India include pomegranate and mango, the king of fruits.

Chai Gin

Made by Papermill Distillery in Cheddleton, England; the gin takes its inspiration from the culture, culinary heritage, and masala chai of India and incorporates spices to produce a gin that reflects the warmth of these flavors. Botanicals used are tea leaves, rose petals, peppercorns, ginger, and juniper berries.

Gin Wala

Inspired by the Chai-Wala’s of bustling Mumbai street mixing their spices, reminiscent of bartenders working with there ingredients in busy bars. This London dry gin from the U.K takes the chai flavors and distills it into a beautiful gin. The gin uses Assam tea, cinnamon, cardamom, vanilla, ginger, and black pepper as botanicals and delivers a warm sweet spice gin.

Crazy Gin

A tipsy night and love of their British-Indian culture inspired, couple Bruce and Paramjit Nagra to produce the first Lassi flavored gin; yes you heard it right. It is called ‘Crazy’ as; like every Indian mother, they were called ‘Paagal’, when he left his job to make gin.

The gin is vacuum distilled with Indian and British spices to give flavors of a savory Lassi.

Goa Gin

This London dry style gin is produced by Thames Distillers in the UK. It takes it It is a wheat spirit-based gin with 8 botanicals angelica root, caraway seeds, cardamom pods, cassia bark, coriander seeds, cumin, juniper berries, and nutmeg.

The name takes its inspiration from the coastal city Goa as it a hub of herbs and spices in southern India.

Garam Masala Gin

This gin is a result of a curry lunch during an annual meet of Batch Innovations. The curry inspired the study of the spices and formation of gin. Distiller Ollie mentioned that Garam Masala gin resonates warmth, sweetness and subtle spice of the fragrant Indian spice mix; the joy is that the spice mix has no fix recipe, it is majorly influenced by the region and personal choices of a household.

Indira Gin

With a very interesting set of botanicals and a mix of grape and corn spirit. This gin is produced in California by Sipsong Distillery and takes its name from in Indian chemist Indira and fearless Indian leader Indira Gandhi.

Saffron

Distilled by Gabriel Boudier in Dijon France; Saffron is inspired by the flavors of Indian and Pakistani food which is loved by the British. It also takes its inspiration from an old book which goes back to the 19th Century when France had colonies in India including Pondichéry, Chandernagor, and Madras, boasted about exotic botanicals of the highest form. Out of all the spices they were fascinated by Saffron the most and hence they used and also placed it on their label.

Spirit of Masham Masala Chai and Hops

Spice of Masham is an artisanal Yorkshire Gin which is made from a masala chai mixture that they created from their inspiration from the Indian subcontinent. The botanicals are hops and the masala chai mix distilled in small pot stills giving the gin a touch of sweetness and lime.

Ginsala

Distilled by Black Strap Craft Distillery in South Africa; the gin takes its inspiration from the influence of Indian food on the African east coast and an unforgettable memory of eating pineapple skewers with curry powder. The gin uses Coriander seeds, fennel seeds, caraway seeds, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, ginger, cardamom, turmeric, red chilli flake and cloves

The East India Company Gin

This gin is produced by The India Company itself, a tribute to there voyages and trade through major ports like Mumbai, Hongkong, and Singapore, the fact that east India was involved in the creation of gin and tonic and also takes the inspiration of the design of the cap from coins or cash that derived from an Indian word ‘kata’.

Go ahead and share these amazing stories next time when you socialize with your friends. If you love your gins; then these brands surely deserve some space in your bar.

Click here, to know about Gin brands from India.