Homegrown Gins That Deserve A Spot On Your Shelf

I understand that for many of us, the Indian gin movement was supposed to be a phase. A pandemic hobby, a craft bubble, sprinkle from elderflower syrup. It became a category that truly peaked during COVID, was acquired by many, and then slowly disappeared behind the tequila boom.

And yet.

We have a new kind of distiller amongst us. Today, the distillers in India have stopped chasing the Tanquerey’s and the London Dry Gins. They’re asking a more interesting question: what does gin from this terrain taste like today?

The answers have been coming in from Meghalaya, the Himalayas, Goa, and everywhere in between. Some of these gins are built on rare botanicals that have never made it into a bottle before. Some are rethinking distillation method entirely. One is a collaboration with an Australian distillery. What they share is a specificity of place — and, increasingly, a standard of craft that doesn't need the qualifier "for an Indian gin" anymore.

Here are five worth your shelf space.

Cherrapunji Craft Gin

Before you get to the flavour, get to the geography. Cherrapunji and Mawsynram in Meghalaya are among the wettest places on Earth. This gin is distilled using rainwater collected at peak monsoon, purified through multiple stages, and used as dilution water.

The botanical work is what earns our appreciation. Eastern Himalayan juniper from the subalpine ridges of Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh provides the spine. Meanwhile, the sohiong berry, which grows wild in the Khasi and Jaintia hills and ripens once a year, brings a deep black-purple colour from dense anthocyanins. Cherry blossom petals, taro, chamomile, and mandarin and lime peel fill the rest of the frame. The bottle, designed around cherry blossom branches and highland ridges with deep gold embossing, contains a patent-applied cap that measures the pour. Although launched in 2023, it's now making a lot of noise in the market.

Vanaha Gin

Twenty-four botanicals, seven thousand hours of formulation and over 200 botanicals were tested before landing on the final recipe. Vanaha — named for the forest — is the debut from Goa's Revelry Distillery.

Co-founders Vaniitha and Navin Jaiin have pulled ingredients from the Western Ghats to the Himalayan forests — palash flowers, mulberries, cocoa nibs, Assam lemons, patchouli, lausari, deodar wood. Six of the botanicals, including cacao nibs and patchouli, go through cold vacuum distillation to preserve delicate flavours that conventional heat would destroy. It's complex and earthy without being a muddy mess, which is harder to achieve than it sounds.

Terry Sent Me!

Terry Sent Me! knows exactly what it is: an easygoing cocktail gin that doesn't take itself too seriously, named as an ode to the speakeasy bars of the 1930s (you had to know someone named Terry to get in). The botanical list is clean — juniper, coriander, lemon, orange peel, cardamom, angelica root, and Gondhoraj lime, the fragrant Bengali variety that brings a distinct floral citrus note.

This is a bartender's gin: versatile, and priced for the cocktail menu. Put it in a Gimlet. Don't overthink it!

Kumaon & I

Uttarakhand's Himmaleh Spirits launched with one gin and one clear intention: make something hyperlocal. Kumaon & I uses eleven regional botanicals — galgal, black turmeric, thuner leaves, coriander seeds, kinnu, kalmegh bark, timur pepper, rose, walnuts — distilled for nine hours in fresh Himalayan springwater. The result is spicy and citrus-forward on the nose, with a medium dry, long finish that rewards patience.

Drink it as a G&T. A Negroni works well here too!

Trading Tides

Third Eye Distillery (the people behind Stranger & Sons) partnered with Australia's Four Pillars on this one. This gin is made of Australian lemon myrtle, anise myrtle, and river mint meet Indian mangosteen, kokum, and tamarind.

Trading Tides is a coastal dry gin, and it tastes like it: fresh, citrus-led, with a warm spice undercurrent.