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Alco-bev trend: To bee or not to bee

Mead is reclaiming its hallowed roots, promising not just a flavourful, spirited alternative, but it weighs in on the sustainability narrative too.

Arkä Honey Dessert

If Adam and Eve were to put down the apple and pick up a drink instead, it could only be mead. The teetotaller Einstein once prophesised that the day bees die, humans will have only four years to live. Then, could he have possibly been drinking something else? And it was only mead that ensured Pandavas survived their exile in the pitiless rugged wilderness. The oldest beverage known to mankind is now making waves in India too; its birthplace, where it all began. Yet, it’s still under covers, waiting to be unveiled and deciphered. 

 Mead is nature taking the bees’ work and turning it into another discerning gem. Honey is fermented producing 4-16 per cent abv with varied sweetness and fizziness, to which further flavours can be added. Traditionally, these were either fruits or spices, adding to the medicinal, antibacterial, antioxidant values of alcohol in the first place, hence the expression ‘davaa daaru’! Honey in itself is a soother and the loosely grouped term ‘madhu’ has represented alcoholic beverages in India since the Vedas, thus bars were christened ‘madhushala’, inspiring poets likes Ghalib and Harivansh Rai Bacchhan. Our alco-bevs have revolved around honey, so has our civilisation, toting honey as the only antidote to all deadly pandemics, apparently. And as with all things old; traditions revisit as a second coming. So also with meads which is being resurrected with glory and passion.

Old Wine in a new Bottle?

Moonshine Meadery’s recent quirky stint at Shark Tank India kindled countless conversations. The Indian gin craze and meads approximately began at the same time, circa early 2018. While gins have created a revolution, half a decade on meads are yet to be completely decoded. Something as rudimentary as setting it as a category in itself has been a task. Though it comes in a pint bottle and our excise lists it as wine, you’ll see #MeadIsNotBeer trending on Instagram, which, let’s agree, is the ultimate socially-befitting court of decision!

Mead to Order

Many urban warriors are reviving the art of beekeeping now. Rohan Rehani, Moonshine Meadery’s co-founder, quit engineering, and mastered the art through a professional qualitification. And in the hunt for the most sustainable, purest, and varietal honeys they’ve setup their own namesake honey brand. Is it really the purest though? Well, here’s a true story. I was born allergic to honey, a reaction so strong that a teaspoon would land me in an ICU. Until I visited Moonshine and dared tasting their varietal honeys, and buying 8 kg over the following weeks. Turns out, I was allergic to fake honey (or foney as we call it now), and had never experienced the real stuff!

Why the move to meads?

 

Unlike beers, (most) wines, and spirits, meads are gluten free, and low on calories too, taking away the guilt of nursing a beer-belly or chubby cheeks. Unlike the stubbornness of the universally written rules around Witbiers, Hefeweizens and wines, meads have no limitations of style, sweetness, and what goes in it, minus water and honey of course. “There’s a dearth of flavourful beverages in the country. We bring in a cultural nostalgia too working with flavours like Bhoot Jholakia chillies, coffee and jasmine that’s very southern, mangoes and pineapples that we’ve grown-up with, Kokum that every Maharashtraian-Goan house has, etc”, says Nitin Vishwas, Moonshine’s co-founder. Priyanka Save, co-founder of Arka Honey Dessert too has brought rose petals, jamun, orange, and cocoa to the spectrum. 

What sets mead apart

Apart from the playfulness, no-expiry tag, and versatility, it’s their ability to make Earth a better place. Bees add immense value to the environment, making it more sustainable, productive, and supportive. Dr. Yoginee Budhkar of Cerana Meads shares “if it wasn’t for bees, humans can’t use pollen anyway. Bees do the work for us. Not just segregating wet and dry garbage, and avoiding plastic straws, drinking mead is a delicious way of supporting the environment and making better choices.”

Moonshine Meadery

As I write this just after Women’s Day, Save makes a powerful statement with “the queen bee is rising”. The recent release of Jack Daniels Honey and Patrons’s Honey Tequila is a global statement that it most definitely is. “Meads and honey-accented drinks are a cool bridge between the childhood favourite cola and sharbet and the bitter-toned wines and beers. And in the Indian weather, a light, flavoursome, guilt-free drink makes the perfect fit”, adds Vishwas. Options vary from the dry and fruity meads from Moonshine to the Spiced Yule from Cerana and the ‘pressed and blessed’ dessert nectars from Arka. We hear more are on their way. 

Cerana Meads
What’ll make 2022 the golden year for meads?

Unlike in beers, honey is in limited supply and can’t be over produced. In the last decade and a half, producers have refined their offerings from their liquids, to labels, storytelling, and styles, gathering evidence from market demand and aspirations. Finally, they seem to have garnered enough confidence to toy and flirt with hues and flavor profiles with unabashed gallantry and flair. What Bira did for beers in India—providing an alternative to mass-produced chemical-induced lagers—meads will do for a bigger spectrum of the menu. And let’s be honest, we’ve also been spoilt for choice; it’s rare to go to the liquor store and return without picking a few new labels. FOMO is for real.

No matter what your motivation or inspiration that drives you to mead—a new drink, flavourful offering, sustainability, environmentalism, or guilt-free drinking—it’s here to stay. And as Einstein urged: Keep the bees alive if you want to indulge in good choices. Translation? Drink meads and make earth great again. 

 

First published in India Today Spice March,2022

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Articles Cocktails Conversations Events + Affairs Spirits TippleTalk Trade

Coffee Meets Alcohol: The Best Of Both Worlds

There’s something civilised about drinking a cocktail. And during the lockdown, we needed it more than ever to distract us from the boredom. Another drink that kept us sane and cheery was coffee. I can’t imagine starting my day without a crisp cup of medium roast, pour-over, that’s preferably from an Indian estate. It wasn’t surprising then that someone had the idea of combining these two lifesavers — coffee and alcohol to make one single drink. The most-consumed cocktail during the pandemic was the Espresso Martini!

Over the last decade, the surging popularity of coffee and cocktails have resulted in innovations among vendors and helped us better our appreciation and understanding of these products. Words like craft roasters, single-lot coffees, grinds, roasts, brewing techniques, nitros, AeroPress and pour-overs, have become a part of our vocabulary and changed the way we consume our favourite beverage. A similar change has been underway in the alcohol and cocktail space as well. Mixers, syrups, tonics, craft beer are now part of everyday conversations. 

The coming together of the two fast-growing craft segments have resulted in a new breed of drinks like the Espresso Martini. And it is just the beginning of what is promising to be an excellent future for coffee-accented tipples.

Nitin Vishwas of Moonshine Meadery breaks this phenomenon down. He says the specialty coffee brands have done a ton to educate the consumer. “They’ve been pushing the envelope and making big waves. So have been the craft alcobev producers. It’s only natural for them to come together,” he explains. 

Aman Thadani of Fullerton Distilleries declares that doing something with coffee was always a part of his plan. He sees an overlap in consumers of the two beverages. “Mixing coffee and craft alcobevs isn’t new, and with the craft spirit movement in India growing in confidence, it is only natural for them to try new things,” he says. 

Here we look at a few exciting new products in the market that do a good job of combining coffee with alcohol. 

Malabar Stout

Bira 91 and Blue Tokai joined hands to put an Indian coffee-accented brew on the world map. The limited-release Malabar Stout is a celebration of the coming together of the Indian craft beer movement and the beautiful coffees of South India. The rich, malty stout with a chocolate flavor that India loves gets a power-packed, aromatic, cold brew boost from select south Indian coffee estates. Bira 91 founder Ankur Jain kept coffee at the centre of the recipe while crafting a beer that accentuates its nuances. The result is an outstanding brew that is robust and impressive. It has a creamy feel and a chewy, malty character. The acidity in the cold brew cleans the palate and makes you return for the next sip. (Mumbai: Rs 170, Bengaluru: Rs 130, Noida: Rs 120)

Coffee Mead and The Collab Project X Subko Specialty Coffee

Mead is not beer. It is largely unknown in India though we created and gifted it to the world; think of soma from the Vedas! Pune-based Moonshine Meadery is the pioneer of modern-day mead in India and probably Asia. Besides their traditional mead, which is a fermented honey drink, they have crafted a coffee mead – a combination of the founders’ two first loves. While Nitin Vishwas is a coffee fanatic, Rohan Rehani is not just an enthusiast but he’s also part of the jury at the Indian Aeropress Championship. 

During their home-brewing days, Nitin threw a handful of coffee beans in his traditional mead, and the result was an instant wow! Their friends loved it, and the founders knew they were on to something. The soft, mild taste showed what a good coffee and a well-made mead could do together. Meads are gluten-free, vegan, with honey at its base, and environment friendly — easily amongst the most sustainable drinks. Pair it with coffee, and you have a morally conscious morning in a glass!

Later, when Rahul Reddy of Mumbai-based Subko Specialised Coffee Roasters reached out to them to get one a project together, it led to a ‘collab series’, the results of which are now sold under the brand name ‘The Collab Project X Subko Specialty Coffee’. It was done in a true spirit of cooperation. Rohan’s company aged the raw green coffee beans in a traditional mead and sent it back to Subko. It was dried and roasted there (they even turned part of it into a coffee, which was on the Subko menu for a few days. I was lucky to be in Mumbai at that time and I loved it). The coffee beans were coarse-ground by Subko and returned to Moonshine to be turned into a specialty mead! The result? A concoction with a boastful coffee character and nuanced notes, one that needs time to open up and patience to appreciate. If it were a wine, I would’ve decanted and let it breathe before sipping — not straight from the bottle, but in a wine glass, at room temperature, like how a fine tipple deserves to be had. The current lot is a limited edition of 1000 bottles. But I am told new coffee meads are on their way. (Coffee Mead, Mumbai: Rs 185, Goa: Rs 140; The Collab Project X Subko Specialty Coffee, Mumbai: Rs 240)

Greater Than Coffee Negroni/Gin

No craft spirit wave has been as impressive as the gin revolution in India. Greater Than, from Goa-based Nao Spirits, was among the earliest to innovate in the game with their limited-release Juniper Bomb. Launched in 2017, Greater Than was India’s first craft London Dry Gin, and there is always an expectation from the founders of the company to up their game. With the pandemic pushing everyone indoors, it allowed them to go loco with experiments.

Co-founder Anand Virmani remembers his distillers bringing him a carton of experimental distils, of which coffee-infused ones instantly stood out. Having experimented with pink gins, juniper styles, citruses, and spices, coffee was a no-brainer for Virmani. At their `bar-takeovers’ across the country, during the early marketing days of Greater Than, he had served a signature cocktail of gin, tonic water, and a cold-brew float called ‘No Sleep G&T’. To create a Coffee Negroni, they reached out to coffee maker Sleepy Owl to source medium roast beans from Chikamagalur. The beans were steeped in water for about two days to create a sturdy cold brew, and then, instead of cutting the distillates with demineralised water as is the norm, it was cut with this strong cold brew. The result is a gin mix with no added sugars, colours, or flavours, except for the crisp and bold coffee expression and fruitiness. It can be drunk with a splash of tonic, an espresso martini, or as a cool coffee Negroni. (Goa: Rs 1,000, Bengaluru Rs 2,400, Mumbai Rs 1,850)

Segredo Aldeia Cafe Rum

Gin may have got all the attention these days, but there is as much action on the rum front too. And among the more popular recent launches has been Segredo Aldeia cafe and white rums from Aman Thadani’s Goa-based Fullarton Distilleries, which also makes the Pumori gin. Aman is also a coffee enthusiast, so it was only a matter of time before he began experimenting with a coffee-rum combination. 

Single-origin coffee beans were sourced from South India, dark roasted, and later infused and sweetened with cane sugar. This jaggery spirit was aged in ex-Bourbon casks and mixed with unaged cane spirit made in a rustic Rhum Agricole style. The process gives the resulting alcohol a ton of complexity, making it a fun yet serious spirit. Infusing whole beans provides a mix of coffee, cocoa, and rustic savoury characters. The sweetness makes it easy on the palate. Keep it in the freezer and pour a dram for yourself from time to time. A splash of water unfolds the spirit, opening it to full bloom. Cafe Rum is like a breath of fresh air on the Indian alcohol shelves, boasting of a new age craft distillers’ sense of confidence and the gentle push to the consumers to try something out of the box.  (Goa: Rs 1,650)

All things said, there is no saying how long this coffee-infused alcohol trend will last. According to Vishwas, overcomplicating the drink might cause the consumers to shy away from trying them. The aim should be to bring the nuances of the two craft beverages together in a way that is simple and easy to decipher.

First Published in Mans World India ,2022

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Articles Cocktails Conversations Events + Affairs Gastronomy Personalities Spirits TippleTalk Trade Wine in a can Wines

All You Mead Is Love

Here’s a story of a drink you may have never heard of. It’s mentioned in the vedas, Mahabharata, Lord of the Rings, Games of Throne, Hobbit, and many such sagas. Possibly the oldest drink on the planet, Mead is a fermented honey drink which was also Lord Indra’s favourite. It has made a comeback to India, thanks to the duo of Nitin Vishwas and Rohan Rehani, who’re leaving no stones unturned in ensuring it reaches our cups with Moonshine Meadery.

Rohan Rehani + Nitin Vishwas – Duo Behind Moonshine Meadery

INCEPTION OF A MEADERY

Many success stories start from its creators brewing an idea in a garage for years before one of them takes the leap. Rohan and Nitin did that, quite literally – from being novice homebrewers to becoming Asia’s first licensed meadery, which took them nearly half a decade. Nitin had an epiphany while reading about meads on an international flight. Upon landing, he tried convincing his childhood pal, Rohan, about re-introducing this heritage drink to India. They had nothing to base their plans and projections on, nor had any directions to follow since there were no pre-existing benchmarks or studies to learn from, thanks to the complete absence of a meaderies in the continent.

A few years of procrastination later, they finally approached the state excise department in March 2016, only to learn meads didn’t qualify for a licence under prevailing laws. Then started the long and exhausting bureaucratic process. Meanwhile, they not only set up their production site, just outside Pune, Rohan even quit his cushy job and enrolled himself into a full-time bee-keeping programme at the Central Bee Research Institute. He patiently chased the excise department consistently on the side. Nearly two years later, when they were nearing losing hopes, the news of mead finally being intronised in the Maharashtra Excise filled them with renewed excitement in July 2017. And, thus, Moonshine Meadery was born, or rather we should say, a revolution was born.

NOW WE MAKE MEAD – HIT AND MISS TO PERFECTION

The duo ran over 200 trials before they created their first meads. To save costs, they self-built a ton of equipments on their own, had a long-standing problem of filtering their final product, labelled the bottles with hand, and delivered orders in their personal vehicles. The first meads that entered the market were the Apple Cyder with Kashmiri apples and Coffee Mead with Karnataka-grown beans. Nitin recalls knowing nothing about the liquor trade when they launched in February 2018. Their friends came to the rescue. They received lessons in the sweetness level of their drinks, product pricing in retail, how to have them priced on restaurants’ menus, in trading and distribution, training and education, and often in humility. Nitin remembers posting himself as a part-time promoter at various liquor stores. He was even asked to shave his beard, and wear nothing but solid shirts. That made him learn about the magnitude of work involved, which made him depart from his corporate suit-tie-cufflink avatar in January 2018. He wears an insatiable smile while reminiscing about the early days. 

Mead Lab Series

LEARNING ABOUT HONEY + EXPERIMENTING IN THE LABS

Rohan is the honey master of the meadery. He created a network during his bee-keeping programme and now sources honey from Maharashtra, Punjab, and Uttarakhand. He recalls meeting with small farmers while searching for varietal honey, which can be rather tricky to spot in india. From there, they met with a flourishing honey aggregator (trader) who educated them about the sourcing business and often financially supported them too. Today the meadery uses seven types of honey between their flagship meads – coffee, apple cyder, and traditional – and the search for more styles is on-going. They use them in different permutations for their experimental range called the MeadLab series. MeadLab is a fun concept of creating more exciting variants with flavour combinations that the sales team, clients, friends, professionals, or their customers suggest. They’ve already created over 15 different styles like cucumber, mango, earl grey, guava chilli, orange chocolate, christmas apple pie, smoked bacon, and bourbon oaked apple. Kokum and sea salt and cocoa husk were amongst my top rankers.

When asked, why such a wide variety of flavours, Nitin chuckles while sharing that honey was always the base of historic alcohols made from fermented fruits. Using flavours in honey drinks has come through the evolution of civilisation and they’re humbly reviving the practice. He also stresses on the importance of seasonality. Honey changes seasonally, so does the basket of fruits, florals, spices, vegetables, and other ingredients. Put the two together and, well, you get two things, ins’t it? One, the confirmation that mead is a craft natural beverage with nearly no possibility of creating a consistency in batches. And the other, the uncountable possibility of showcasing the irresistible flavours fresh to the season while keeping mead as a base. And that fine balance of nature-meets-business Moonshine Meadery has managed to strike very well. 

VISITING THE MEADERY

Before the national lockdown, I made my maiden visit to the meadery in Pune. Though I’m allergic to honey, tasting that array of beautiful raw nectars shall remain an imposing life-altering moment. There were honey that tasted of orange blossoms, berries, eucalyptus, mustard, rosewood, and carom seeds or Ajwain. Meads are gluten free, vegan-safe, and lower in calories than beers. Once honey is sourced, it’s diluted with RO water and left to interact with Champagne yeast that takes upto two weeks to ferment it dry. Once it settles, it’s filtered, bottled, pasteurised, and labeled. Moonshine has collaborated with several artists to have their labels designed, which makes their bottles a collectable proposition. And they can be held on the shelves for long.

Meads, unlike beers or ciders, don’t have an expiry date, rather they get better with age. The honey flavours get further amalgamated in the drink, developing layers of complexity, and shining brighter on the palate with time. Colours also deepen. We tasted youthful and older meads, served at room temperature, which tasted much better than when chilled. Of course, this also varies from the style of mead being served, which further urges the consumers to experiment and find their own favourite style of imbibing this elixir of gods and vikings.

DIVERSIFICATION IN MEADS

To further make their offerings exciting, Moonshine Meadery is now working with Maharashtra’s tribal communities to source strains of some sacred honey. They had to painstakingly convince them that their beloved nectar won’t be exploited for commercial purposes and it’ll be held with utmost regard. Nitin shares that some tribes pray for a week before even entering the forest and heavily guard their trails to ensure no one could trace it, securing their liquid gold like a lioness protecting her cubs. These meads yield upto 13% alcohol and fetch upto INR6000 for a 750ml portion. It reminded me of the oxidised wines of Jura or a well-crafted Olorosso sherry, partially piney and resiny, utterly complex and layered with notes of sap, savouriness, animally character, sweet tobacco, and earth. On the palate, it stood astute with ethereal acidity, and an everlasting aftertaste. It wasn’t available for sale during our visit.

MATI MEAD PROJECT – LIQUID GOLD

The tribal honey mead will be a part of a bigger offering called the ‘Mati Project’. It will feature different batches of special meads, produced from single origin honey from various parts of India, accentuating their special characteristics. The plan is to work with local potters to design special earthenware bottles in which they’ll be sold. Meads, like wines, can be barrel aged, and some of the Mati meads may see some maturation depending on their individual personality and style. Since meads don’t oxidise either, Mati meads will be able to withstand the test of time over decades, and it’ll start at the meadery with a minimum six months ageing prior to release. Bottles will read ‘best after’ date, further stressing the urge to hold on to the liquid for a rather special occasion. Such liquid definitely demands and justifies a higher tag. Yet, they won’t be even a fraction of the price of your favourite Bordeaux. If you are a proud guardian of a discerning palate, keep an eye on their release as they’ll be small batch produce. 

WHAT DO I THINK OF MEADS? THE FUTURE?

So, for anyone approaching a mead must bear in mind that it isn’t a beer or a cider, and must be treated as a drink by itself. There’s way more mysticism and romance in the liquid, and definitely holds more promise than other low alcohol ferments. It’s a category that’s bound to grow rapidly and earn its spot on our shelves and the list of favourites for our Friday evening soirees. It doesn’t take too long to befriend the taste of meads, but it stays on like a cruel mistress, arresting your desire of stopping at one. And lets not forget what Albert Einstein said – if the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. Now remember when you’re drinking meads next time, you’re making a small contribution towards keeping the planet alive. 

Stay alive and drink more meads, after all all you mead is love!!

True Story Bro
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Blog Videos

52 Drinks 52 Weeks – Mead

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86P–0bldhw

Do you know what the Vyasa, Ram-Laxman, Pandavas, GoT, and Sacred Games lads were sipping on? MEAD. This fermented honey drink, possibly of Indian origin, has been around for centuries. Pune-based Moonshine Meadery is putting it back on the shelves. Sommelier Gagan SHARMA visits the meadery and meet with the mad bunch of creators and their minions to find out what’s the fuss all about and tastes a few.

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Blog Conversations

Conversations with Indulge – Nitin Vishwas

Rohan REHANI and Nitin VISHWAS

A Mechanical Engineering + MBA degree and a 15 years stint with the likes of L&T, McKinsey, and Abbott kept a shy connection for Nitin VISHWAS, with the hospitality industry. He and his pal, Rohan REHANI, had very little idea that they’ll were destined to make India fall in love with the age-old beverage, MEAD. Today, the duo runs the country’s first Meadery, called MOONSHINE. With recipes being purely experimental and wisdom of their grandma’s spice cabinet in the kitchen, the brand has come a long way.

Further tuning, of what can easily be (now) called an established drink in the country, came from talking to home and professional brewers (mainly beer) and some chefs as well. Shailly of Independence Brewing Company and Oliver from Doolally are amongst the few people who mentored them along the way.   

Team IWBS picked Nitin’s brains on his journey, thoughts, and the way forward.


What led you to choose to make mead in India? 

Moonshine meads has reintroduced the lost drink of Indian origin to the world

A long international flight, a boring job, and an old friend who later became my cofounder in Moonshine. 
I used to be a consultant with McKinsey and Co. in 2014 and my job kept me on the road and in the air quite often. It was on one such flight between Brussels and Munich, that I read about London’s first meadery, Gosnell in the Lufthansa inflight magazine. I took some pics of the article and sent it to Rohan, my childhood friend for over 33 years, with whom in the recent past, I had discussed about making beer (strictly as a hobby). When I returned, he had already arranged all the ingredients to make our first batch of mead and that started our long journey into starting Moonshine. 
Mead, comes from the indo-latin word Medu, which comes from the Indian word Madhu. Hence, the words Madhira and Madhushala. So, it’s closer to home that most people think. Old Monk, Strong beer, Whiskey with Thumps Up, Water or Soda (to reduce the bitterness), Port wines all stand testament to the fact that Indian typically prefer sweeter carbonated alcoholic beverage. Mead, to our mind, was naturally in the ‘goldilocks’ spot.

When not savouring mead, what is your preferred drink?

I am not particularly fond of spirits. So it’s a nice red wine or a hoppy IPA for me.


How would you describe the taste of mead to a person who has never had it before?

Meads taste like a cider, minus the sour taste, with sweetness closer to that of a dry white wine. Also, the nose is very floral and a little complex. All in all, its arguably the most versatile beverage. The type of honey, changes the type of drink and in regards to fruits and spices, the versatility of nature can be reflected in the styles of meads one can make.

What were the main struggles to overcome in creating a unique style of beverages in/for India?

You have to convince 3 sets of people, if you plan to launch a new category of beverages in India

1. The government – We took 2.5 years to get a law passed to recognise mead as a category in India and then to get a license against this new law. 

2. Customers – the human mind is quite interesting. Especially because it’s always trying to normalise an experience to something it has seen before. So, in a country like India, were alcohol is still a bit of a taboo and craft is only just taking off, convincing them to try a new category like mead is always a challenge; Especially when they haven’t had a cider before. Category building is always harder than brand building.

3.  Restaurants – Convincing restaurants in India is usually even harder since you have to convince them that customers will come and ask for meads. They do not want to lock up capital for a category which is still unknown. Further, expecting the staff to push meads is a whole new challenge since most of the time, they are not able to field all questions asked by a customer.

What should India be drinking next?


I think there a bunch of very Indian alcohols which no one knows about! As much as I am not fond of distilled spirits, I really think Feni and more so, Urrak, is delicious! Unfortunately, these spirits have been classified as country liquor in India and hence cannot be exported out of Goa to other states. On the other hand, Goa exports Feni to Canada by the containers! Food for thought!

Once you master Mead, which is the next drink you’d like to reintroduce to India or have a take on?

With more than 10 variants available in the market, Moonshine is planning to add more variants under its name


I think we have a long way to go with meads. What we have done is make a low ABV mead, aka a Hydromel. What we want to do next is introduce high ABV meads (12-14%), aged for over a year and made using special Indian honeys sourced directly from tribals in various parts of the country! We have been working on one such mead for the last year and we plan to release 50 bottles sometime in 2020. This to my mind, is where Moonshine will go next!