With production of whiskey from Japan and Ireland lagging behind demand, India’s distillers are gaining.
A 2014 Bank of America Merrill Lynch study found that India consumed 40 million gallons of whiskey, more than three times that of the U.S. Officer’s Choice, a low-cost label, is the world’s bestselling whiskey for five years running. According to International Wine and Spirit Research, consumption doubled from 2007 to 2016.
98% of whiskey consumed in India is locally made; craft distilling only makes up a small portion of that percentage. But the two most prominent whiskeys —Amrut (Sanskrit for ‘elixir of life’) and Paul John—have received considerable praise over the past 15 years. In 2010, British whiskey expert Jim Murray declared Amrut Fusion—named for its cosmopolitan use of barley from Scotland and India—the third best whiskey in the world. Craft Spirits Exchange describes the Amrut 12 YO Greedy Angels as having “aromas of a tropical fruit cocktail, with papaya, mango, pineapple, along with a signature Amrut licorice note.”
John Distilleries, based in Goa on the western coast of India, first released Paul John Single Malt in the U.K. in 2012 and has since expanded to seven expressions. John Paul Kanya, matured in American white oak for seven years, received the Best Asian Whisky 2018 distinction in Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible.
Last updated: December 26th, 2025
