Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
There are few spirits in India as closely tied to nostalgia as Old Monk. For some, it is the familiar dark rum mixed with cola at a house party. For others, it is the bottle that makes an appearance every winter, often accompanied by a spirited debate about politics and literature.
Across the country, producers are experimenting with fresh sugarcane juice, jaggery, different fermentation techniques and carefully selected ageing casks. Some are making spirits designed to be sipped slowly, rather than poured into a mixer without much thought. Others are looking to give Indian rum a distinct identity in a global market where provenance, production methods and maturation are part of the conversation.
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The shift has been significant enough for premium Indian rum to attract international attention. And yet, ask an (average) Indian drinker to spend several thousand rupees on a bottle of rum, and an obvious question emerges: why would I pay that much for rum when I could buy a whisky?
That question sits at the heart of the category’s next challenge. Indian rum may be changing in the distillery, but the way consumers think about it has some catching up to do.
The Old Monk controversy has raised a question about what’s in the bottle
The debate has become more immediate following the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India’s (FSSAI) action against alcoholic beverages over flavouring and age-related claims.
In August 2026, the regulator clarified that some manufacturers had been adding external flavours intended to imitate the taste and aroma naturally associated with a spirit, while selling the products as standard spirits. It said such practices could mislead consumers about what they were buying. The action brought Old Monk into a wider debate over rum classification, product descriptions and labelling.
The dispute has since reached the Bombay High Court, with the company challenging the action affecting sales from its Thane unit in Maharashtra. The company has disputed the regulatory position and sought relief. The case remains a question of compliance and classification, rather than a finding that Old Monk is unsafe to drink.
Rum can be made using different agricultural raw materials, and producers can create a range of flavour profiles through fermentation, distillation, maturation and blending. But what is in the bottle, how it has been made and how it is described to consumers are separate questions.
For drinkers, the episode offers a reason to look more closely at labels and production methods. It does not automatically mean that every established rum is inferior, or that every expensive alternative is better.
The more interesting question is whether consumers who have long bought rum on the strength of familiarity and price are beginning to ask what distinguishes one bottle from another.
Yangdup Lama, bartrepreneur and co-founder of India Bartender Show, believes that awareness remains limited.
“I don’t think it has made a significant difference yet,” he says of the FSSAI controversy. He adds that consumers need a better understanding of the differences between rum, rum-flavoured spirits and aged rum before the debate can meaningfully change buying habits.
For a category trying to move into a more premium space, that education could be crucial. A higher price tag alone cannot explain why a rum is different. The producer has to tell the consumer what went into making it, and the consumer has to be able to judge whether that difference is worth paying for.
Why rum is still seen as the cheaper spirit
Part of the problem is that rum and whisky have occupied different places in India’s drinking imagination.
Rum has traditionally been associated with affordable dark spirits, familiar brands and winter drinking. Whisky, meanwhile, has developed a broader premium vocabulary: age statements, single malts, cask finishes, distillery heritage and bottles bought for gifting or special occasions.
That difference is not simply about what is in the glass. It is also about how the categories have been marketed and understood.
“I believe it has a lot to do with the narrative built around both spirits over the years,” says Lama. He points to the way Scottish whisky makers built a global story around heritage, craftsmanship and quality, and how Indian whisky producers have continued to develop that premium positioning.
Rum, he argues, needs a similar collective effort to communicate its diversity and craftsmanship.
Shalini Sharma, head of marketing at Piccadily Agro Industries Ltd, which makes Camikara Rum (3YO, 8YO, 12YO) sees the same gap between the country’s rum-making heritage and the category’s public image.
“India has a rich legacy of rum, deeply rooted in our sugarcane heritage and generations of drinking culture,” she says. Yet, for decades, she adds, rum has largely been perceived as an affordable, dark spirit associated with seasonal consumption, while whisky has enjoyed a more established premium positioning.
The irony is that India has the agricultural base to make rum in several different styles. Sugarcane and its derivatives can be used in different ways, and the resulting spirits need not all taste alike.
But when a consumer has spent years associating rum with a particular price bracket, asking them to spend substantially more requires more than a new label or a smartly designed bottle. It requires a convincing reason to reconsider the category.
The price question: is premium rum worth it?
Let’s look at the numbers.
In Delhi, a 750 ml bottle of Old Monk is listed at approximately Rs 650, although retail prices vary by outlet and state. Camikara Rum Cask 3 Years, a premium Indian rum made from fresh sugarcane juice and matured in oak casks, is listed at approximately Rs 2,400 for the same bottle size in Delhi.
That is a difference of more than R 1,500. The two bottles are not intended to offer the same drinking experience, but the comparison helps explain the challenge facing premium rum. A consumer moving from a familiar everyday bottle to a premium expression is being asked to make a substantial jump in spending.
The comparison with whisky makes the challenge even clearer. Indri-Trini, an Indian single malt, is listed at around Rs 3,700 for 750 ml in Delhi. At that price, a consumer considering a premium spirit could reasonably compare the whisky with a less expensive premium rum before making a choice.
Lama believes price is not necessarily the biggest obstacle. The larger issue, he says, is whether consumers understand what makes a premium rum different. A tasting pour, or a well-made cocktail can give them an opportunity to explore the spirit without committing to an expensive full bottle.
That is an important distinction. Consumers are not necessarily unwilling to spend money on rum; they may simply be unconvinced that a more expensive bottle will deliver an experience that justifies the price.
And the price itself is not arbitrary. Fresh sugarcane juice, for instance, needs to be handled quickly after extraction. Ageing spirits in barrels also ties up stock for years before they can be sold. Raw materials, production methods, maturation time, blending and distribution all influence the final cost.
The question is whether producers can communicate that value clearly enough for drinkers to make an informed choice.
What are Indian rum makers doing differently?
The newer Indian rum category is not built around a single production method. Its more interesting feature is precisely that producers are exploring different raw materials and styles.
Camikara, for instance, is made from fresh sugarcane juice rather than molasses. According to Sharma, the process begins with attention to freshness, handling and fermentation, followed by double distillation and maturation in ex-bourbon American oak casks.
“At Camikara, we are proud to be pioneering this evolution of premium Indian rum,” she says. The aim, she adds, is not to replicate international rum styles but to create an identity rooted in Indian sugarcane, climate and maturation.
Fresh cane juice can give a rum a different aromatic profile from a molasses-based spirit, often bringing more vegetal, grassy or fresh-cane notes. That does not make one raw material universally superior to the other; the final character also depends on fermentation, distillation and maturation.
Other producers are exploring different routes.
Amrut Bella, for example, is a jaggery-based rum matured in bourbon barrels. Amrut Two Indies combines Indian rum with Caribbean rums, bringing together spirits from different traditions. Goa’s Pipa Rum de Goa takes a different approach, using jaggery spirit and maturation in ruby port wine casks, with spices including black pepper, cinnamon and clove.
Then there is Maka Zai, made in Goa, with white and gold expressions that offer different ways into the category. Short Story, meanwhile, blends Indian rum with rums from Jamaica, Trinidad and the Dominican Republic.
These are not interchangeable products, and they are not all trying to solve the same problem. Some foreground Indian raw materials; others experiment with blending, maturation or a particular flavour profile. Together, they suggest that Indian rum can be a much broader category than its familiar dark, sweet stereotype implies.
What are you actually paying for?
If a bottle of premium rum costs as much as, or more than, a single malt, the obvious question is what makes it worth the money. The answer goes beyond how long the spirit has spent in a barrel. It begins with what goes into making it.
The choice of raw material, fermentation and distillation all influence the final flavour. Take fresh sugarcane juice, for instance. Unlike molasses, it can give rum a fresher, more vegetal character, but it also requires careful handling because it cannot simply be stored for long periods before fermentation. Ageing and blending add further layers of complexity, but they are only part of the process.
Hemant K Pathak, mixologist and general manager, head of bars at Junoon, Jazba and Room 207, believes the distinction begins well before the spirit reaches a barrel.
“The choice between cane juice, molasses and jaggery matters. So do fermentation and the type of still,” he says. These decisions influence the character of the spirit, which maturation and blending can then build upon.
That also explains why two rums need not taste alike, even if both are dark and aged. And colour, Pathak points out, is not a reliable shortcut to quality. A clear rum can have plenty of character, while some dark rums derive part of their colour from caramel.
For consumers used to one familiar style of rum, these differences may not be immediately obvious. That is where bartenders can help: a tasting pour or a well-made cocktail offers a way to discover what a spirit tastes like before committing to an expensive bottle.
A white rum, for instance, can shine in a Daiquiri, while an expressive aged rum can bring a different dimension to an Old Fashioned-style cocktail. The point is not that every rum needs to be sipped neat, but that it deserves to be judged on its flavour and how it is made, rather than its colour or price alone.
For premium Indian rum, this is the crucial step. Producers can invest in different raw materials, production techniques and maturation, but consumers need to understand what those choices bring to the glass. Otherwise, a higher price is just a higher price.
So, are Indian drinkers ready to move beyond Old Monk?
Not necessarily in the sense of abandoning it because Old Monk’s popularity is rooted in familiarity, affordability and a place in the country’s drinking culture. A new generation of premium rums does not need to erase that history to make room for something different.
The more realistic challenge is to make the category easier to explore. Bartenders can introduce customers to different styles by the glass. Producers can explain the role of raw materials, fermentation and maturation without relying on vague claims about premium quality. Clear labelling can help consumers understand what they are buying, while better access to tasting pours and cocktails can make experimentation less expensive.
Pathak believes the bar has a role to play in that process, through consumer education and better training for bartenders. For a drinker who has never tried anything beyond a familiar dark rum, a small pour of a cane-juice or jaggery-based expression may be a more persuasive introduction than a long explanation of the distillation process.
Lama, too, believes the category needs greater awareness and excitement around its newer expressions before more consumers will trade up.
Ultimately, the question is not whether Indian rum should cost as much as whisky. Nor is it whether Old Monk should lose its place on the shelf.
It is whether a spirit with India’s sugarcane heritage can be judged on its own terms, rather than being held to the price and image of the one bottle most people already know.
The next chapter of Indian rum will depend on producers making distinctive spirits, but also on giving consumers a reason to try them. Nostalgia has served the category well. It need not be the limit of what comes next.
(Not all the rums mentioned above are available across India. Some are sold primarily in their regions of production, such as Goa, while others are available only in select markets, including Maharashtra and Karnataka.)
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
