Rishabh who did his graduation from Delhi and specialized in the field of marketing from London comes from a business family. Having an entrepreneurial background he always had a passion to start something new and fresh. While working for MNCs like American Express, he discovered his business potential and saw an opportunity in the craft cocktail industry, which made him quit his job and follow his passion and love for cocktails. This passion and his drive to do something in the craft cocktail industry brought Bab Louie & Co. into existence.
In developing countries like India, alcohol consumption has been a sensitive topic till a few years ago. The major reasons behind this were various socio-cultural norms, different alcohol policies and lack of alcohol awareness but if we see the stats now, it’s a completely different thing. The alcohol industry is booming at a very high speed. About a third of the population of the country consumes alcohol on a regular basis. The Indian cocktail industry is hugely dominated by cocktail consumption. Like fashion, cocktails also keep changing from time to time. Bartenders make endless efforts in recreating and reinventing their drinks because that’s what the young Indians demand. The young Indians are crazy about traveling and experimenting with their palate. This has led to soaring demand for cocktails in the non-metro cities as well.
The present craze of carefully crafted cocktails with fresh and natural ingredients has its roots in a number of historical trends. The covid pandemic and lockdowns made people discover their skills. A large number of people started cooking and bartending at home. Consumers started looking for options on how they can elevate their drinking experiences at home. This gave an opportunity to the home grown brands to set a foot in the market with simple solutions for people to have a nice and convenient drinking experience sitting at their respective places. The brands started expanding their business and were primarily into making cocktail premixes and bitters.
As the cocktail industry flourished, several home grown brands came into existence which are into making bitters, cocktail premixes and garnishes. Among the Indians the concept of craft cocktails is not very old. One of the major compositions which is being used in cocktails is bitters and cocktails premixes. Our country is blessed with a plethora of herbs, spices and botanicals. This blessing has served as a boon to the cocktail industry. People have started researching and experimenting which has led to several home grown brands coming into existence.
Through the launch of these curated mixers, people are now more interested in curating their own drinks because it not only gives them a personal experience but also curating a drink with these brands of mixers and bitters is super easy. Another major revolution in the cocktail industry came with the launch of canned cocktails. According to a market research done by Fact.MR, it shows that due to the number of lockdowns and pandemic, a tremendous impact was seen in the food and beverage industry and consumer’s demand also changed drastically. The global canned cocktail industry has been showing an upward growth. One of the major reasons behind this is the increased consumption by the Gen X and Gen Y population.
India has seen a lot of progression in the alcohol industry since the last two years. Home grown crafted cocktails mixers and bitters have shown a splash in the local as well as global market. As health has become a priority of the people and people are more concerned about their health after the pandemic, sugar free cocktails is the new trend in the market. Many brands are also focusing on curating sugar free products to have a wider audience reach.
Our country has gradually become aware of alcohol, but there are still many avenues which have to be tapped and explored. Johnnie Walker’s tagline “Keep walking” is the right fit for the cocktail industry in our country. The cocktail industry is yet to see innovations and varieties of products on board.
Competition in the drinks industry has become intense. The competition to come up with new cocktails to new beverages that go well with cocktails has evolved the world of bartenders and mixologists. Mixologists are pushing their boundaries to come up with new crafted cocktails and become a notable name in the industry. This intense competition is for sure going to give us many new and exciting cocktail options in the future to choose from. It is very difficult to define what a perfect cocktail is, but a well-crafted cocktail which can elevate your mood and make your day is what all you need.