You know what’s better than a gin? It’s a gin with a story. Malayali-Irish couple Bhagya Lekshmi and Robert Barrett can tell that well. It’s been barely a month since they launched their first spirit in Ireland, made using spices from a women-run co-operative in Kerala, and the news has gone viral in the rest of Europe, India and America.
Lekshmi is baffled as she is sleepless from the thousand calls and pings she’s getting: "People outside Ireland haven't even tasted the gin and then to see this demand! I think they are loving the story behind Maharani Gin."
Or should we say, stories? A product of Rebel City Distillery, founded by Barrett in his home city Cork in Ireland, Maharani Gin is a meet-cute, a cocktail of cultures and histories, and a tribute to powerful women through the ages, all sealed in a charming bottle.
Lekshmi grew up in Mangad village in Kerala’s Thrissur district, worked in Chennai after getting a degree in IT engineering and later moved to Dublin to pursue Program Management. It was on a blind date in 2015 when Lekshmi met Barrett, who had cut his teeth brewing and distilling across countries.
"I hadn’t tried spirits until I met Robert. I had only had toddy in Kerala, that too with my family because it’s not considered alcohol in our state. So he opened me up to the world of drinks and how to enjoy them slowly, over two-three hours. It was different for me because, in India, people gulp down drinks and drink to get drunk."
By 2017, the couple had tied the knot amid the backwaters of Kollam. Post-wedding, Barrett started discovering the famed spices of Kerala. Lekshmi, who works full-time at a tech MNC in Ireland and helps out Barrett in hand-bottling the gin and hand-writing the batch numbers, shares, "I bring cassia (Chinese cinnamon) from Kerala to make biryani. It smells divine and Robert loves it. He also likes our nutmeg-mace. Robert loves everything from briyani, dosa, and Madras filter coffee to my mother’s idiyappam and chicken curry, so we cook Indian and Irish food on alternate days."
The spice-talk got Lekshmi suggesting him to make gin with Kerala spices. "Gin is a flavoured spirit and when I think of flavours, I think of Kerala because we have a long history of the spice trade," she reasons. That was it.
Lekshmi is a feminist, so she wanted these botanicals to come from a women-led co-operative. Her internet search ended at Vanamoolika Herbals in Wayanad in her state. So the couple visited the centre, which employs over 200 women, last June and were stoked about the quality of spices and that they were grown organically.
To their great luck, they found a distributor of Vanamoolika products in Ireland. With that, Barrett got down to stirring up a concoction with nutmeg-mace, cassia and pomelo from Kerala and Indonesian cardamom sourced from Italy.
Since gin is considered a female’s drink, Lekshmi wanted to raise a toast to the rebellious women of Kerala inside out. So came the name Maharani (queen), Malayalam lettering viplav (rebel) spirit on sticker and moksham (liberation) on the cap, and a tribute note for the Vanamoolika at the back. Ask her why just Keralite women and she invokes folklore from her region, that of Nangeli.
"She cut off her breasts to protest against a caste-based breast tax. That explains the sword in the logo. From Nangeli to Kudumbashree, a self-help group for women that Kerala started in the 1990s, I grew up hearing about the strong women of Kerala. Even my mother. She isn’t that educated but she stands by her beliefs."
How much of a rebel is Lekshmi? "I took a career break at 28 to study despite the 'You should marry” comments coming my way. And when I decided to marry, I chose an inter-racial marriage," she makes a case.
If Lekshmi had a rebellious history to show off, so did Barrett! "Cork is named Rebel City in honour of Michael Collins, who fought Ireland’s War of Independence. And since ours is the first distillery to come up in Cork in 50 long years, we thought Rebel City Distillery was a befitting name." There’s more. "Our craft distillery has come up at Marina Commercial Park, where the Ford Factory once stood. So we have kept the historical look of the place raw."
A matter of pride
Maharani Gin is going places even without a PR machinery. "We launched the drink on June 23 but it went viral only recently, after a Keralite in Ireland shared the video of Bottle No 427 from the first batch on social media. Then proud Indians, especially Keralites, made it famous," Lekshmi recalls.
A few turned up at their facility in mundu for a photo-op. But the Irish are equally excited, she wants you to know. "We are getting great reviews from drink experts in Ireland. The ambassador of the Indian embassy in Ireland is happy we could connect two cultures. The Irish Food Board helped us with investments."
So when will Maharani Gin hit the Indian shelves? "With this lockdown and excise permissions, it will take some time. I want to give the first bottle to my parents, and my brother and sister-in-law, who are handling the social media pages of Rebel City Distillery on my behalf because I can’t take it anymore. I have a full-time job, you see!" Lekshmi signs off with her endearing laugh, also sharing that she plans to raise a toast to the women of Vanamoolika in a web conference.
It’s sweet at the start, thanks to Cassia. Then you get a citrusy mouthfeel of pomelo fruit and a spicy after-taste of nutmeg-mace. Their signature serves are: The High Queen (with tonic water), The Ginger Maharaja (with ginger ale), The Sisterhood (with lime juice).
Next they plan to make a rum using Indian jaggery, possibly to be sourced from Marayoor in Kerala.