Once the preserve of dark wood libraries, crystal tumblers and low-lit conversations, fine whisky has, over the last decade, slipped into an entirely new role—that of a high-gloss global asset. What began as a collector’s obsession has matured into one of the world’s most dazzling alternative investments, now rivalling art, watches and vintage wine. According to the Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index, rare whisky values have surged by over 500 per cent in 10 years, outperforming every other collectible category and firmly sealing whisky’s new reputation as liquid gold.
Few understand this more intuitively than Vikram Damodaran, Chief Innovation Officer at Diageo India, whose work on Godawan has moved Indian whisky into a rarefied global company. “When a whisky reflects a place or an ethos, it builds emotional equity along with financial appreciation,” he says—a philosophy increasingly echoed by collectors worldwide. It is precisely why releases like Godawan 173: The Collector’s Edition (Rs 5,00,000) command such reverence. It is also why collaborations such as the Tulleeho x Godawan 25th Anniversary bottling resonate less as products and more as heirlooms-in-the-making.
At the summit of India’s emerging whisky-investment universe, India Rare Spirits is shaping a rarer proposition still: private cask ownership. With entry points beginning at Rs 30 lakh, and the most valuable cask delivered in India touching Rs 75 lakh, these are not objects of display but long-horizon assets. Once considered a spirited curiosity, Indian single malts today command global reverence. At the vanguard stands Amrut—the pioneer that first cracked open the Scotch-dominated establishment. Its cult bottlings, notably the Greedy Angels series and Spectrum editions, now command serious collector status internationally.
Close behind, Indri made a dramatic entry with its Diwali Collector’s Edition. From Goa, Paul John continues to find favour with European critics and collectors alike for its bold, peated expressions and tropical cask-strength releases. In the luxury heritage segment, Rampur has emerged as India’s aristocrat—trading on royal lineage, slow maturation and stately design language that resonates deeply with high-net-worth collectors. Meanwhile, innovation-forward labels like Kamet and Woodburns are attracting a new, globally fluent Indian collector.
India’s premium and luxury whisky segments grew by eight per cent in the first half of 2025, according to IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, marking a decisive shift from celebratory bottles to collectible ones. The question is no longer simply what to pour, but what to preserve. Few have observed this evolution more closely than Hemanth Rao, founder of the Single Malt Amateur Club (SMAC). Since 2011, SMAC has grown into a community of over 7,500 members, shaping Indian palates through masterclasses on age, vintage and outturn.
“What we’re seeing now is a community becoming more discerning—people want to know why a bottle matters, not just how it looks on a shelf,” he notes. Yet for all its glamour, India remains a paradox in the global whisky investment ecosystem. The country still has no legal secondary market for whisky; private buying and selling remains prohibited. Bottles here cannot trade with the liquidity they enjoy in London, New York or Hong Kong. Then there is the steep 150 per cent import duty. A bottle priced at £5,000 in London may touch Rs 1 lakh in India. As a result, many Indian collectors quietly rely on duty-free acquisitions and offshore storage, housing prized bottles abroad in order to retain liquidity. In the end, the smartest pours in India today are the ones nobody opens.