THE ART OF CRAFT

As a penchant for home-grown crafts grows stronger, we shine the spotlight on three liquor brands that have broken new ground in their spaces, and made a convert out of the global spirit habitué

- SAUMYAA VOHRA

THE GIN

STRANGER AND SONS

There’s no telling what Stranger & Sons’ secret sauce really is. It could be quality, superlative enough to warrant a near-perfect score (98/100) at the International Wine & Spirit Competition 2020, making it the only Indian brand to be awarded. It could be its piquant ingredients, proudly Indian down to its bones. Or, simply, its moxie. Its constant, ebullient zeal for innovation, which led to India’s first distilled cocktail (Perry Road Peru) with Mumbai icon The Bombay Canteen, deliverable G&T kits, and global collabs like Strange Times – pre-batched cocktails and cordials made in partnership with some of Asia’s best bars.

The answer is probably all of the above. Being a gin worth its juniper would’ve been enough to put it on the map, but founders Sakshi Saigal, Rahul Mehra and Vidur Gupta realised soon after its launch in 2018 that being responsive and relevant was just as vital. Part of that relevance was going the inherently local route. “We knew we wanted to create a robust gin with distinctly Indian botanicals, but without any cultural appropriations to the flavour profile,” says Saigal. “It was choosing that was the task; the plethora of herbs, roots and spices was overwhelming.”