UK firm spotlights Indians behind craft drinks on International Women’s Day

London: Maharaja Drinks, a recently launched company bringing Indian-crafted drinks to the UK market, is celebrating International Women’s Day on Saturday by spotlighting an array of Indian women breaking new ground in the industry.

The company notes that while the spirits and wine industry has traditionally been male-dominated, there has been a flurry of women-led drinks businesses and enterprises in India in recent years.  From a woman who switched from banking to bartending and now creates her own homegrown rum to a tea enterprise in Darjeeling that works with 350 women from eight local villages, Maharaja Drinks said it is committed to showcasing their craft in the UK.

“The majority of wine sold in the UK is bought by women, so it's only going to be good for business to have more women making wine, selling wine and talking about wine,” said Sophia Longhi of Maharaja Drinks.

“At Maharaja Drinks, we work with some amazing female-led wine suppliers, who bring their expert viewpoint to our table. As well as championing women in wine, I also get to champion an emerging wine region, India, which makes my work here doubly exciting," she said.

Among the Indian winemakers making their mark through the firm include Vidita Mungi behind Rhythm Winery, a fruit wine business using produce from diverse parts of the country – from the orchards of Maharashtra and fields of Karnataka to the plantations of Gujarat.

Kiran Patil of Reveilo Wines in Nashik has been blending art and science to craft wines that are 100 per cent vegan. In the spirits arena, banker-turned-bartender Kasturi Banerjee is the founder of Stilldistilling Spirits, which produces Maka Zai homegrown white and gold rum.

Meanwhile, Varna Bhat is the force behind Rahasya – an Indian vodka made using local ingredients.

In the non-alcoholic segment of the industry, Maharaja Drinks has been promoting Husna-Tara Prakash’s Glenburn Tea from the hills of Darjeeling and Muskan Khanna’s all-female enterprise Tea N Teas, based in Coonoor.

“When we started the Maharaja Drinks journey, we knew from the beginning we wanted to work with suppliers that not only represent our values but are also progressive thinkers and pioneers in Indian craft drinks, so many of these people are women,” said Ipe Jacob, co-founder of Maharaja Drinks.

“The alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks industry has been dominated by men for some time but this is all changing. We believe now is the time for a new wave of global female talent and we are proud to champion these six amazing brands in the UK drinks market,” he said.

The online retailer, which had its official launch last year, kicked off with a range of high-quality Indian wines, including unique blended tropical fruit wines and Kombucha, as well as Indian-made beers and spirits such as whisky, rum, gin and vodka.