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India has entered the world of craft gin with a confidence that reflects the country’s extraordinary botanical heritage. Drawing on one of the most diverse natural pharmacopoeia on earth — from the foothills of the Himalayas to the spice-rich coastal plains of the south — Indian distillers have found in gin a spirit that suits their landscape remarkably well. The result is a growing category of gins that feel genuinely rooted in their place of origin, rather than simply imitating European traditions.
The most immediate characteristic of gin from India is its relationship with the subcontinent’s indigenous botanicals. Where a classic London Dry leans on juniper, coriander, and citrus, Indian gins tend to reach for ingredients that carry the warmth and complexity of the region: raw mango, turmeric, cardamom, long pepper, darjeeling tea, and a range of native herbs and roots that have been used in Ayurvedic tradition for centuries. Juniper remains the legal foundation, as it must, but in many Indian expressions it serves as a backbone rather than the lead voice.
Climate also plays a meaningful role. India’s heat accelerates interaction between spirit and botanical during maceration, which can intensify aromatic extraction and produce a more pronounced, immediate character. Distillers working in this environment must understand their ingredients with particular precision — the margin between vibrant and overpowering is narrow, and the most accomplished Indian gins demonstrate that their makers understand exactly where that line falls.
India’s gin movement is relatively young — most craft distilleries have been operating for under a decade — but it has developed with notable speed. The country’s long familiarity with gin as a category, rooted in its colonial history and sustained by a large domestic spirits market, provided a ready audience for a homegrown craft wave when it arrived.
Indian distillers have approached botanical selection with genuine curiosity, and a willingness to work with ingredients that have no precedent in European gin-making. Some of the most frequently encountered native botanicals include:
Most Indian craft gins are produced using pot still distillation, with botanicals added through direct maceration or, in some cases, vapour infusion. The emphasis tends to be on showcasing specific regional ingredients rather than pursuing a neutral, juniper-forward profile — which places many Indian gins firmly in the contemporary style category, even when the production method is relatively traditional.
A handful of producers have done much to define what Indian gin can be, and their work offers a useful introduction to the category.
Hapusa Himalayan Dry Gin, produced by Nao Spirits in Mumbai, is among the most internationally recognised expressions to emerge from India. Hapusa — the Sanskrit word for juniper — takes its name seriously, building its botanical programme around Himalayan juniper sourced from Uttarakhand. Alongside that juniper, the recipe includes raw mango, gondhoraj lime, turmeric, and Indian coriander. The gin earned Country Winner Gold in the Contemporary Style Gin category at the 2024 World Gin Awards, a recognition that reflects both its quality and its distinctiveness. It is a considered, well-structured gin that rewards slow appreciation.
The Greater Than London Dry Gin, also from Nao Spirits, takes a different approach — anchoring itself in the London Dry tradition while incorporating Indian botanicals within that framework. It demonstrates that Indian distillers are not limited to a single stylistic direction, and that the country’s producers can work with equal fluency in both classical and contemporary modes. The brand’s range extends further with expressions such as Greater Than No Sleep Gin, which earned Country Winner Gold in the Flavoured Gin category at the same awards, and Greater Than Broken Bat Gin, a matured expression that brought home Bronze in its category. The breadth of this portfolio suggests a distillery genuinely engaged with the possibilities of gin as a category, rather than one simply following a formula.
Cherrapunji Eastern Craft Gin draws its identity from one of the wettest places on earth — the town of Cherrapunji in Meghalaya, in India’s north-east. The botanical profile reflects the lush, biodiverse environment of that region, incorporating local herbs, roots, and spices rarely encountered in gin produced elsewhere. It received Silver in the Contemporary Style Gin category at the 2024 World Gin Awards, and represents the kind of hyper-local storytelling that makes the Indian gin scene genuinely compelling to explore.
Given the warmth and complexity of their botanical profiles, Indian gins tend to reveal themselves well over ice with a quality tonic water. A generous pour with a single large ice cube, a splash of tonic, and a garnish chosen to echo the gin’s dominant botanical — a slice of raw mango for Hapusa, a twist of lime peel for something more citrus-forward — provides a straightforward but satisfying introduction.
For those who prefer their gin neat or with a small amount of still water, Indian gins often reward that approach too. The aromatic intensity of botanicals like long pepper, turmeric, and darjeeling tea becomes more apparent when the spirit is not diluted by carbonation, and the layered spice notes that define many Indian expressions are worth encountering without distraction.
Cocktail applications are equally promising. The spice-forward character of many Indian gins works particularly well in stirred, spirit-led drinks — a negroni built around Hapusa, for instance, develops in directions a London Dry would not. We suggest approaching these gins with some curiosity and a willingness to experiment with garnishes and mixers that reflect the spirit’s geographic origins rather than defaulting to familiar European conventions.
India’s contribution to the global gin conversation is still developing, but its trajectory is clear. The country possesses an almost unparalleled range of native botanicals, a population of distillers who bring genuine knowledge of those ingredients, and a domestic market sophisticated enough to support continued innovation. What the best Indian gins offer is not simply novelty — it is a coherent, place-rooted approach to a spirit that has long been defined by its European origins.
For those with an interest in where gin is heading, and in what this spirit can express when it is genuinely connected to its landscape, India is a chapter well worth reading carefully.
