RISE OF AGAVE SPIRITS

Exploring India's unique take on agave-based alcoholic creations

- Swarna Srikanth

You might be familiar with tequila and mezcals, but did you know there's another delectable spirit derived from the agave plant which is born out of our own country? Agavepura is a spirit crafted through the agave plant and it comes alive from India's Deccan Plateau.

Kimberly Pereira of Maya Pistola Agavepura, Asia's first premium aged 100% agave, takes us through the world of agave spirits.

Excerpts from the interview:

Do you think India is moving away from a rum and whisky market to embracing agave-based alcohol?

India has always been a brown spirits market, and our love for rum and whisky will never fade.

That being said, today's consumers are highly open to experimenting with different spirit categories that offer something fresh as reflected in the International Wine and Spirits Record, which showcased that Agave volumes in India nearly doubled in 2023, making it the fastest-growing major spirits category in global travel retail.

While the global agave movement started strong with Tequila and Mezcal, the Agave revolution in India is just taking off, and there is a lot yet to be discovered. In fact, 2024 has even been termed 'The Year of The Agave', with a reported +37% rise in volume for Agave in the past year. We foresee that within the next five to six years, the consumer demand for newer agave variants will increase, beyond their traditional markets.