From the arid, unforgiving desert lands of the Thar in Western Rajasthan, the story of rich, aromatic single malt is born, intertwined with the fate of a large bird that once proudly strutted on this land, in the thousands. As the number of the godawan (the Great Indian Bustard, once in the running for the national bird of India) dwindled to barely a hundred, it was put on the IUCN endangered species list in 1994. Global spirits company Diageo put together an ambitious plan to revitalise the state bird’s habitat and create a made-in-India whisky that would take the story of the avian internationally.
Made from locally sourced six-row barley in Alwar, the single-malt Godawan was launched in March last year. To celebrate the first anniversary, Diageo launched the limited-edition Godawan 100 this May. It’s priced at Rs 92,000, and limited to 100 bottles. Each bottle is etched with the outline of the bird and comes in a cask made out of an old bourbon barrel in which the spirit was aged. It has been double-matured in American ex-bourbon and European oak casks.
To spread the message of preservation of India’s culture, Diageo got on board renowned photographer Amit Pasricha, founder of India Lost and Found (a volunteer-driven initiative to digitally document India’s heritage sites), and former royal and social entrepreneur, Chaitanya Raj Singh of Jaisalmer. Singh says, “Due to the harsh conditions, people have always used native plants for survival, but they would let the grasslands grow. Now, due to agriculture, there are no grasslands left, and the godawan only lays its eggs inside these grasslands,” he says.
In Pokhran, Diageo identified 200 acres of land (with the support of the district forest office) in the habitat of the godawan, in Jaisalmer district. They sequestered the land for the cohabitation of the male and female of the species, an area where the Bishnoi community—involved in preserving the ecology—also live (they grow their food on 50 acres of this land). Despite scepticism around marketing pitches riding on supposed ecological concerns, Singh says, “One isn’t just naming the whisky after the bird; it’s the message of conservation that needs to reach as far as possible.”
Shweta Jain, Chief Business Development Officer: Luxury, Reserve and Craft, India and South Asia, Diageo India, says, “We wanted to celebrate Rajasthan, with the artisanship around the spirit and its ecosystem—the barley, the wood casks, which are a cross-pollination across various finishes, and the botanicals we use.” So from the six-row barley sourced from special cluster farms in the state—a genetic variety that consumes less water—to the water which is used in slow drip distillation, everything is local and sustainable at the most basic levels. “The slow trickle, besides using less water, gives an extended distillation time in the vats, for the whisky to rest,” says Vikram Damodaran, Chief Innovation Officer, Diageo India.
The distillate then goes into ex-bourbon casks, which is then aged for three-and-a-half years. “When the liquid interacts with the wood at 40°C—remember we are in Rajasthan, not Scotland, where it’s 4-5°C—it imparts flavours that are not possible in any other part of the world,” says Damodaran of Godawan’s natural terroir. This single malt has two expressions: the first is the Godawan Single Malt Rich and Rounded Artisan Whisky 01, which is finished for six months in a Pedro Ximenez sherry cask (from Spain), giving it complexity, a rich mouthfeel, and a waxy coating as you take your first sip.
“We then decided to add something Indian and finished it in another ex-bourbon cask which was seeped with Indian botanicals, rasna and jatamansi, known for their digestive functions,” he says, adding, “These two botanicals have been used in Rajasthani culture for centuries, so that became part of our process.”
The second expression, the Godawan Single Malt Fruit and Spice Artisan Whisky 02, is finished in
a cherry wood cask, which is used more for winemaking than whisky-making, with a wood that’s quite weak, allowing for a high transmission of flavours. “You get fruit and nuts, almonds and raisins that you don’t expect from a whisky from hot and arid Rajasthan,” says Damodaran. It is also finished with rasna and jatamansi.
Today, with every bottle sold, part of the proceeds goes back to the conservation. “Everything we’re doing with Godawan is about being conscious—about consumption, community and environment,” says Damodaran, “We began investing in the conservation of the bird five years ago, far before we launched the product, because we knew, going into Godawan as a product, we were making a long-term commitment in its conservation.”