From the Tonic Water of the early 19th Century to the single malt whiskey being produced today, there is a generous splash of the ‘Indian’ in alcohol products around the globe

There are many alcoholic products in foreign shores that come with a tag “Indian” attached. Here are the world’s best known ones.

Indian Tonic Water

A friend from New Zealand tells me that almost all tonic water in the market comes with the label “Indian Tonic Water”. Tonic Water is an important additive to gin, to be had straight or in cocktails.

It was the prevalence of malaria in India that perhaps gave rise to the tonic water. It was originally used as a prophylactic against malaria, and intended for consumption in tropical countries such as South Asia and Africa, where the disease was widespread.

The tonic water was a carbonated soft drink in which quinine was dissolved. The quinine was so bitter that the British in the early 19th Century began mixing the powder with soda and sugar, and a basic tonic water was created. The first commercial tonic water was produced in 1858. Gin and Tonic also originated in British colonial India, when the British population would mix their medicinal quinine tonic with their favourite gin or to create Vodka Tonic.

India Pale Ale

Way back in the 18th Century, European traders visited India through the East India Company. They brought with them a pale ale brewed by George Hodgson in his Bow Brewery located on the Middlesex-Essex border. It came to be known as India Pale Ale (IPA) and was brewed from pale malt.

The ale became a permanent fixture in English pubs and taverns too. So popular did it become that a brewery was established near the East India docks in East London. IPAs have a long history in Canada and the United States too, and many breweries there produce a version of the beer.

Some of the most widely seen examples include Brewdog Punk IPA, Thornbridge Jaipur IPA, Oakham Green Devil IPA, and Fuller’s Bengal Lancer IPA. To conform to the style, Modern British IPAs should be in the range 40-60 IBU with alcohol in the range 5% to 8%.

The modern incarnation is described as a moderately-strong, very well-attenuated pale British ale with a dry finish and a hoppy aroma and flavour.

Indian Single Malt

The Indian whiskey brand, Officer’s Choice, sold an astonishing 400 million bottles all over the globe in 2015.

In recent years, the very Indian-sounding Amrut has made waves around the globe in the single malt category. Although discerning whiskey aficionados traditionally would choose Scotch and Scottish Single Malts, India’s craft distilling culture has also earned a reputation for the whiskey it is making for international consumption.

Neelkanth Rao Jagdale produced Amrut Fusion Single Malt, made of 50% Indian barley and 50% peated barley from Scotland, and the world of whiskey took note.

Leading whiskey expert Jim Murray, in his Whisky Bible of 2010, named Amrut Fusion the third best single malt whiskey in the world, and declared it to be “one of the best malts ever made anywhere in the world”.

Indian whiskeys are made primarily out of molasses. Single malt is a new avatar for Indian brewers, but popular brands such as Amrut, Rampur and Paul John are making the Indian presence felt in foreign countries. Such Indian craft whiskeys are described as fruity, toasty, honey-like and cinnamon flavoured.

While the climatic conditions in Scotland and India are very different, the single malt in our country matures faster. But, Indian single malt whisky must be matured for a minimum of three years and a day in oak casks and must be the produce of a single distillery.