BENGALURU: As bartenders, we have always been privy to new trends, and even predictions for them -- this year however was a rim-on-rim match. When it comes to drinking culture, India’s priority is set on the dram. Yes, we love our rums. But we love our whiskies more, formats notwithstanding. We would nurse a blend with the same relish as we would indulge in an oak-aged Single Malt.
Finding, stocking, pouring an aged dram, in fact, gives us the same high as our first, self-brought set of wheels. It’s almost a dram that in our culture makes gentlemen out of boys. Fascinatingly, it is the single bar trend that has remained a constant on the tippler’s roost with a few high notes joining in briefly -- or so it was until a few years ago. Then came the bar revolutions, with foreign brands making a beeline to the Indian market -- and fresh new Indian blood giving them a run for their money with equally stunning creations. Like Amrut, India’s Single Malt.
The spirit war brewed a happy marketplace for bartenders to play Dionysus. For patrons, this was time to get “spoilt with choices.” And they did with aplomb. It was the first instance in the 200-year-old bar culture that whisky was set aside for the lighter, whiter cousins like vodka and gin, in that order.
Suddenly vodka, that was until then the base of great cocktails, saw a resurgence as a straight order. Brands created more palatable flavours designed for the Indian sensibility and pocket. The cherry was bartenders who, blessed with the best of spirits, began working to find cocktails that would be had with the same vigour as a punch in the 1960s. It was the early 2000s when kitchens were changing -- and bars needed to not only work on the drinking experience but also be on par with the global scene.
At the foundation of it all were globetrotting young diners, who became the biggest catchment for brands. The high of vodkas was soon followed by gin, which made its second debut in the Indian scene. This time however, it wasn’t just about gin and tonic, but an array of cocktails. Closer on the heels was tequila. A barrage of marketing worked at creating a culture of matured drinkers.
As the Indian drinking culture curbed into 2020, the ‘given’ changed. The favourites read as one of the finest bar books in the world: whiskey, gin, vodka, tequila (not in that order), alongside another hot favourite, beers -- microbrewed and bottled.But the best time for spirits was yet to come -- and it did as a silver lining to the lockdown.
As bar business shut shop, it put brands into a process of whirlwind marketing, and bartenders used social media to talk about drinks, and launch new brands, including the first Indian dry gin. Brands, which often relied on bar hands and events to promote their creation, could now reach even fastidious drinkers, effectively. By the first unlock, brands flew off the shelves -- albeit with one big highlight: we loved our spirits, made in India!
(The author is the beverage programmer, Raahi Neo Kitchen & Bar)