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Spirit makers are expanding their reach and finding new followers by collaborating with like-minded brands to help fill a niche

When The Greater Than sent us a bottle of gin last month, we were taken by surprise. Instead of a transparent spirit inside, it was dark brown. Had they pivoted to making a dark rum now, we thought. It turns out, the drink is actually a coffee-infused gin called No Sleep. This is just one of many collaborations in the spirit segment that’s seen an explosion of innovative offerings. 

In 2020, when the world was thrust indoors due to the Coronavirus pandemic, the distillers at The Greater Than began experimenting with various flavours to create an infused gin. “Coffee and gin go very well, and our late distiller Jay Dhawan had created a coffee float cocktail with orange that we usually pushed out at all our events. It is a great twist in a gin and tonic too. So, when we decided that we wanted to bottle an infused gin with coffee, we reached out to [Arman] Sood of Sleepy Owl to use their cold brew,” says Anand Virmani, co-founder of The Greater Than gin.

The 4 am martini made using Greater Than Gin and Sleepy Owl coffee. Pics/Shadab Khan

Cold brews are less acidic and bitter, they go well with a gin and tonic, thinks Sood. “We offer medium and dark roast [sourced from various estates of Chikamaglur]. Anand’s team selected the dark roast for the gin. With a cold brew, it can be made with a fine or coarse grind and steeped from 12-48 hours. Since the gin was made at their facility, we gave them the coffee and let them decide what formula worked for them,” he shares.

At the end of gin distillation, the liquid collected is at a whopping 80 per cent ABV. This is further diluted to 42.8 per cent ABV using water. “But we used cold brew,” says Virmani explaining that the diluting happens at room temperature of 25 degrees, which is similar to the temperature of a cold brew. “A cold brew is slow-brewed compared to a hot coffee that is made in a couple of minutes. While making a cold brew, the function of extraction of coffee is based on time not temperature,” adds Sood. 

Last month, chef Prateek Bakhtiani of Ether Chocolates tied up with Diplomatico to create a line of rum-filled chocolates using the Reserva Exclusiva. He used Sierra chocolate for the line

For now, they have bottled 25,000 brews and distributed in Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Delhi. While the Sleepy Owl is known for its chocolate and nutty notes, the gin contains pine, juniper and hints of fennel. “When we made the infusion, the gin gave a cherry-forward taste. The salted caramel and pink peppercorn made it deliciously fruity and spicy. On ice, the chocolate notes opened up the woodiness,” explains Virmani. We have our coffee black and strong, so our first sipping is neat, and our palate gives a nod. The stiffness of juniper-forward gin and a 35-hour steeped cold brew infusion is a great pairing.

At the start of the lockdown, we got a taste of Perry Road Peru in November 2020. This limited edition is a collaboration between The Bombay Canteen and Stranger and Sons. The first year, only 1,000 bottles were introduced to Mumbai. An overwhelming response led them to bottle 20,000 as part of the next batch in 2021. Sameer Seth, partner, The Bombay Canteen (Hunger Inc., Hospitality), says, “We’ve been friends with the team of Stranger & Sons for many years now and have collaborated with them in the past in the form of bar takeovers at The Bombay Canteen and O Pedro. Instead of making just a cocktail mixer where the gin would have to be purchased or added separately, we thought why not make the drinking experience a whole lot more fun.”

Anand Virmani and Arman Sood

The concept also gave them the opportunity to take The Bombay Canteen’s food to other cities in India as a pop-up dining experience that they curated along with Stranger & Sons. The year 2021 saw the launch of Stranger & Sons x The Bombay Canteen Pop Up Tour, where the makers took the Perry Road Peru experience to the cities of Goa and Bengaluru. “In the past, we have also collaborated with Great State Aleworks to introduce Pedro’s Nariyal Paani, an exclusively brewed batch of craft beer infused with toasted coconut in cream, ale style. This coconut cream ale has a body that holds up well with our food at O Pedro that has bright and punchy flavours,” he says. 

Last month, chef Prateek Bakhtiani of Ether Chocolates tied up with Diplomatico to create a line of rum-filled chocolates using the Reserva Exclusiva. He used Sierra chocolate for the line. “The cocoa nibs in the Sierra help highlight the sweetness of the rum. The passion fruit and the silky Venezuelan chocolate complement the notes of vanilla and wood of the rum, creating a seductive long finish,” says Bakhtiani.

Sommelier Nikhil Agarwal of All Things Nice believes collaborations are a great way to widen your reach. “Both brands get to pick on the expertise of one another to create something unique. This way, cross-pollination of followers is a spontaneous outcome.“ Agarwal has been running a wine tasting programme called Vinopedia at The Table in Colaba since a year. “It is a very lucrative collaboration where we curate the wines, and the restaurant provides appetisers. It is also a great way to market to two data bases. The Table gets our audience, and vice versa.”

If you scroll the Instagram handle of The Greater Than gin, they have many recipes like 4 am martini, a no-groany take on the negroni to go with the No Sleep gin. They even have a dalgona version. Sood says such collaborations are for everyone: People who drink coffee, people who drink gin and for those who are fond of neither but are open to experiment. “Today, people want to talk about what they drink, and what coffee they  are having. They also want to know how I brew my coffee and how I drink my gin. This collaboration is going to be one such conversation starter. A limited edition piques interest and even raises FOMO [fear of missing out]. Collaborations add a certain amount of cool quotient, to be able to serve it, take a photo and share it on the Gram. It’s a big factor: I have my hands on it, you don’t.”

There’s a new Indo-Japanese gin

Last week, saw the launch of a new gin in the city. While the homegrown story of Indian-made gins has been going steady for over five years now, Doja brings together ingredients and expertise of two countries —India and Japan—for a first Indo-Japanese gin that is distilled at East Side Distillery in Goa. Made in a London Dry style, it is crafted by a veteran master distiller in a well-respected distillery in Wakayama. Founder Jai Anand, who comes from the music industry and has roots in Japan, says, “We wanted to mix and match ingredients from two countries as they both have unique botanicals. The idea was to create a new taste, and not just make another Goan gin,” says Anand. Doja will distill the next batch in Japan using Yuzu peels, sansho pepper, cedar leaf and hinoki chips from Japan, and Indian botanicals including fennel, peppermint, cardamom, and coriander.

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