Calling the shots: What’s driving the tequila / agave boom in India

These spirits are made from the agave cactus native to Mexico. It’s hard to process, but easy to grow. We’re drinking four times as much as we did. Take a look.

Tequila is the new gin, says Gauri Devidayal, owner of the fine-dining restaurant The Table in Mumbai.

Set up in 2011, it had four items in the tequila section of its bar menu, until 2019. In 2020, it added about 10 mezcal and tequila drinks to the list, some neat and others in cocktails.

“It’s the sort of drink that can be enjoyed neat,” Devidayal says. “There are now more brands available in India, which is both a reflection and

There are now three home-grown agave brands in India: DesmondJi, Maya Pistola, Loca Loka.

Body of proof

Now to zoom out a little. Agave may be on the rise — mainly tequila, truth be told, which makes up over 95% of agave-spirit sales in India -- but these spirits aren’t likely to outsplash the big four in India any time soon.

Alcohol consumption here at home remains dominated by whiskey (a huge market leader, with India, in fact, being the world’s largest consumer), followed by rum, brandy and vodka, in that order.

White spirits as a whole still account for less than 4% of India’s liquor market, Sanghvi says. But the boom in agave is clear enough, he adds.

That boom is what prompted Dhariwal to set up Maya Pistola.

With his restaurants shut in the pandemic, “we figured we needed a product that could get into people’s houses,” Dhariwal says. He and his team studied the figures and realised that people were experimenting with alcohol at home; tequila sales in particular were rising.

Maya Pistola was named after the Mexican goddess of agave, Mayahuel. From a single Reposado, its catalogue has grown to seven variants. Some have a smoother, more mellow flavour from being aged for up to six months; others are a sharper mixed of aged and unaged agave spirits, designed for cocktails.

“In the last financial year, we sold about 3,600 nine-litre cases,” Dhariwal says. “The next goal is to double that in a year.”

Exports could help. Maya Pistola Agavepura is now also available in the US, Thailand, and Singapore. DesmondJi’s pure agave has been available in parts of the US and Europe for a while.

Tipple effect

DesmondJi was set up, incidentally, by the Goan craft distiller Desmond Nazareth, who loved tequila, the story goes, and was tired of buying it at exorbitant rates overseas.

He decided to use agave grown in India, to keep costs down and give his brand a USP. He set up a distillery in Andhra Pradesh, and slowly built a loyal fan base.

This brand also saw sales boom in the pandemic.

“We used to produce at 50% of our distillery capacity (of 30,000 nine-litre cases) before the pandemic,” Braganza says. “Since October 2021, when we reopened after the pandemic, demand has been growing and we now produce at full capacity. As of September this year, we are making 60,000 nine-litre cases a year.”

What’s next? Watch the tequila sections of restaurant menus and you may spot the next spurt yourself.

The true challenge will be altering the average urban Indian’s home bar, Sanghvi says. “The discerning drinker may experiment with an agave-based cocktail at a restaurant. And there is a certainly growing appreciation for craft, small-batch and artisanal spirits in general. Like whiskey, agave spirits offer the sophisticated, slower-drinking experience that appeals to discerning consumer in India. And the make-in-India spirit helps boost interest in homegrown brands. But, in terms of price and prestige, it will be hard to beat whiskey and the others, given how deeply these spirits are embedded in Indian drinking culture.”

“Agave spirits do have the potential to carve out a significant niche,” he adds.

How significant? Keep an eye on the menus and you’ll know.