Beverages

Inside India’s Next Big Whiskey Opportunity with Udit Mediratta

In this episode of Behind the Boardroom with Reshma, Udit Mediratta, Co-founder and CEO of Marmalade, the company behind Bright Side Craft Whiskey, explores India’s evolving whiskey market.

Drawing on his 15+ years of experience at AB InBev and across consumer businesses, he discusses changing consumer preferences, the rise of premiumisation, market opportunities, and the complexities of building a whiskey brand in India.

From understanding the next generation of drinkers to navigating taxation, distribution, marketing restrictions and funding, this conversation offers insights into what it takes to build and scale an Alco-Bev brand.

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1. The Indian Whiskey Landscape & Demographics

Reshma: Udit, why whiskey?

I want to throw some numbers at you and understand what they tell you. India’s population in the legal drinking age group is going to reach a billion very soon. Every year, we’re adding almost 15 to 20 million people to the legal drinking-age consumer base. Whiskey is also growing, with IWSR projecting 6% growth over the next decade.

What do these numbers really tell you?

Udit Mediratta: You’re absolutely right. India is one of the largest alcohol markets in the world. It’s a top-five market and actually the second-largest spirits market globally.

If you look at India’s population, the adult legal drinking population is close to a billion people. I think about 350 million of them actually consume alcohol. So, the penetration, so to say, is about 35%.

As of 2025, this number of 350 million is expected to increase to 400 million, or 40 crore, by 2030. Obviously, all the incremental drinkers being added are going to be people who are turning the legal drinking age.

All this data tells me two things.

First, the total number of alcohol consumers in India is clearly growing. That’s where the growth in whiskey, and the broader growth in Alco-Bev, is coming from.

I was checking somewhere that between 2020 and 2030, India is going to add as many alcohol drinkers as the drinking populations of the UK and France combined. It’s a huge number of drinkers coming into the alcohol category this decade. That’s one source of growth.

The second thing is the demographic change happening among alcohol drinkers. In 2020, close to 40% of drinkers were Millennials. By 2030, it’s going to be Gen Z. Gen Z is going to become the largest and most dominant segment of the drinking population.

Reshma: Okay, you mentioned Gen Z. I do want to touch upon that a little later in the conversation. Not yet, though. Hold on to that. I’m holding on to my thought on that. But yeah, carry on.

Udit Mediratta: So, two things: first, a lot more Alco-Bev consumers are coming into the market this decade. Second, there’s a demographic or generational change happening among drinkers, from Millennials to Gen Z.

Reshma: Got it.

Every category you consume has a gateway, you could say, or a flavour that you start with before moving on to the next level. I know coffee lovers are going to hate me for saying this, but cold coffee before espresso, or perhaps mozzarella cheese before goat cheese, could be examples.

But with whiskey, there is no gateway, right? I haven’t heard of anyone I know saying they tasted whiskey for the first time and loved it. It’s an acquired taste.

What makes whiskey such a dominant category? Is it availability? Is it simply that whiskey has been woven into our culture? What do you think is really driving its dominance?

Udit Mediratta: Sure. See, alcohol is an adulting beverage, right? As you hit the legal drinking age, I think it’s one way in which you feel like an adult, so to say.

Every culture has its default adulting beverage. The default adulting beverage of Russia is vodka, of China is Baijiu, and of Korea is Soju. As it happens, whiskey is the default adulting beverage of India.

We’ve seen our parents, grandparents and the generations before us consume whiskey as their default alcohol. That’s what makes whiskey so relevant in India. It’s culturally the default adulting beverage.

And cultures don’t usually change their adulting beverages. If you look at France, it’s wine. It was a wine-drinking country 100 years ago, and it’s still a wine-drinking country today.

So, we see whiskey continuing to stay relevant because of this cultural context.

There’s another reason why spirits tend to be such a large contributor to the overall Alco-Bev business in India. That’s taxation.

The way excise taxation works in India is that it is based on volume. Beer and wine tend to be taxed higher than spirits. That’s another reason. The value-for-money equation that spirits offer results in Indian consumers preferring them over some of these other alcoholic products.

2. Whiskey Segmentation & Price Brackets

Reshma: When we talk about the whiskey market in India, what are we really referring to? If I had to break it down, how would I do that? Would it be based on pricing, with mass-market, premium and luxury brands? Or would it be based on origin?

There are also terms like BIO, BII and IMFL. And from a consumer standpoint, we can look at it differently. Could you give our audience a broad map of the market?

Udit Mediratta: Sure. Maybe I’ll talk about the styles first, and then the price points.

Broadly, there are two or three styles of whiskey that are dominant across the world.

There’s something called single malt whiskey. We’ve all heard of brands like Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Amrut and Indri. These are good examples of single malt whiskies.

What are single malt whiskies? They are made exclusively from malt and in a single location. So, single malt whiskey is actually single-location whiskey. It’s made in a single distillery and exclusively from malt.

The other common style of whiskey that’s popular across the world, including India, is blended whiskey.

Blended whiskey combines malt and grain. It could be a combination of malt whiskies and grain whiskies, or, quite often in India, malt whiskies and grain spirit. But blended basically means it’s a blend of malt and grain.

Then, obviously, there are bourbon and Tennessee whiskies, which are more popular in the US. Good examples are Jack Daniel’s and Jim Beam.

Indians primarily consume blended whiskies and single malt whiskies.

Coming to your question about Scotch, Scotch is really an indication of where the whiskey is made. If it’s made in Scotland, it’s called Scotch. If it’s made in Ireland, it’s Irish whiskey. If it’s made in Japan, it’s Japanese whiskey.

So, to summarise, blended whiskies, single malt whiskies and American styles of whiskey, such as bourbon and Tennessee, are popular across the world.

I missed giving examples of blended whiskies earlier. Johnnie Walker Black Label, Chivas Regal and Jameson are good examples. The first two are Scotch, while Jameson is an Irish whiskey.

Now, in terms of pricing, the market broadly has four segments.

First, there’s the value segment. Sometimes it’s called mainstream, but it’s essentially the entry-level segment of the category. Brands like Bagpiper, Officer’s Choice and Imperial Blue tend to dominate this segment.

In Maharashtra, these brands are usually priced between ₹500 and ₹1,000 for a large bottle, which is 750 ml.

Reshma: 750 ml, right?

Udit Mediratta: So, ₹500 to about ₹1,000.

Above that is the regular segment, sometimes also called prestige. It’s priced between ₹1,000 and ₹1,500.

Brands popular in this segment include Royal Stag, Royal Challenge and Oaksmith, which was launched in recent times.

Just above that, between ₹1,500 and about ₹2,500, is the premium segment. This is changing because some of the taxation on imported products is coming down.

What are the brands in the premium segment? At one end, you have brands like Blenders Pride, Antiquity and Signature. On the imported side, you might have brands like Red Label, Ballantine’s, Teacher’s and 100 Pipers.

Beyond that, you have the luxury segment.

An important caveat here is that all the whiskies I’ve mentioned in the value, regular and premium segments are blended whiskies.

Above ₹2,500 is the luxury segment. That’s where you also start getting some of the single malts. For example, Indri and Amrut would be in the luxury segment. So would some of the more expensive blended whiskies, such as Johnnie Walker Black Label, Chivas and Jameson.

These are broadly the four segments that exist in the market today.

The value segment accounts for about 20% of the market. The regular segment is 50% now. So, the regular segment, priced between ₹1,000 and ₹1,500, has become the dominant segment.

The premium segment, which is the one above regular, accounts for about 20% of the market. And this is all by value. The luxury segment accounts for 10%.

Reshma: Got it.

Udit Mediratta: So, broadly, it’s 20%, 50%, 20% and 10%. That’s how the market is structured.

Obviously, a lot of the growth is happening in the top two segments, which are premium and luxury. That’s why we’re seeing a lot of action in these segments today.

To talk about the premium segment in a little more detail, it used to account for 10% of the market 10 years ago. So, its contribution has grown from 10% to 20%.

Reshma: That’s massive.

Udit Mediratta: That’s massive! It’s a significant increase.

Similar growth has been seen in the luxury segment as well, driven by the overall premiumisation we’re seeing across consumer categories in India.

This is broadly how the market is laid out. The interesting thing here is taxation and the import duties that have come down. A lot of imported products are going to become more accessible, and perhaps some of them will move down from the luxury segment into the premium or mass-premium segment.

3. Younger Drinking Preferences & Consumption Occasions

Reshma: The younger audience who are of legal drinking age: are they looking at more functional benefits or more emotional ones? Is it more about lifestyle, living a certain kind of life, or having a particular friend circle or social circle? What is it about the younger audience that’s making them inclined towards drinking? Is it different from how we grew up?

Udit Mediratta: Yeah, I think one of the differences we’re seeing between younger people and previous generations is that they might be drinking more frequently during the week, but they’re drinking less per occasion.

Thirty, forty or fifty years ago, people were probably drinking many more drinks per sitting. The intensity of consumption was much higher.

I think one consequence of this is that younger consumers are making more considered choices. They’re willing to pay a premium for the brands they choose. They’re expecting more and are ready to pay more.

When I say they’re expecting more, I mean they’re expecting better quality and a better overall product experience.

The second thing is that this is the social media generation. That matters, especially because Alco-Bev is a lifestyle category. The brands you are seen with matter.

I think that’s another factor influencing younger consumers. They’re thinking, “Hey, what’s going to look good on social media or in the photos I share with my friends?”

So, some of these emotional aspects, such as the brand experience and packaging, are beginning to matter a lot more.

I think there are two broad factors driving premiumisation: younger consumers are choosing more premium brands because of these expectations and the experience they offer.

Reshma: Does this also translate into how they consume whiskey? Are they drinking it traditionally with ice or neat, or are they experimenting with highballs and cocktails?

Udit Mediratta: I think it depends on the occasion.

Let’s take the example of a young man working at Infosys in Pune. He would have a number of occasions in his life. For example, one occasion could be a Friday night with his flatmates. The choice of whiskey or product might be very different on a Friday night compared with a Sunday brunch or going out with colleagues on a Wednesday.

So, they might not only choose different alcoholic products, but also different formats.

Reshma: Got it.

Udit Mediratta: Let me take an example. On a Wednesday, it might be beer with colleagues. On a Friday night with flatmates, it might be a whiskey highball, something easy with soda or water. And when I go out for a Sunday brunch, it might be cocktails. It could be whiskey cocktails, or gin, vodka or whatever else.

So, I think the nuance here is not just the consumer, but also the occasions for which they’re choosing these products. Young people and drinkers today are definitely experimenting more.

Reshma: And are they experimenting with other spirits like gin, or is it happening both ways?

Udit Mediratta: Honestly, if you look at our parents’ generation, they tended to be very loyal to their category. It was like, “Hey, I’m drinking in 40°C heat on a Friday, and I’ll still have whiskey. In the middle of deep winter, I’ll still have whiskey. Even if I go on a holiday abroad, I’ll still have whiskey,” even though that country might be known for different products.

So, there was a lot more loyalty to the alcohol category and the way people consumed it. I think that’s reducing to a certain extent. It’s becoming more occasion-based.

Younger consumers are a little more experimental and are choosing by occasion. It makes sense to have a refreshing cocktail or a beer on a Sunday rather than necessarily choosing something else.

4. Per Capita Consumption & Taxation Policies

Reshma: Okay, let’s dive a little deeper into what’s happening in the industry currently.

I’m going to quote some numbers, which I’ll refer to so that I don’t get them wrong. India’s per capita alcohol consumption has more than doubled in the last two decades. It has risen from 2.4 litres of pure alcohol in 2005 to 4.9 litres in 2023. This is projected to reach 6.7 litres by 2030.

This growth, of course, is largely driven by the changing demographics we just spoke about, rising incomes and the growing culture of social drinking.

Now, if you compare this with a country like Australia, where beer consumption or beverages with a lower ABV are more prevalent, it stands at 5.3 litres of pure alcohol against 1.7 litres of hard spirits.

The same applies to Germany, where the figures are 8.9 litres versus 3.2 litres, with lower-ABV beverages being more prevalent than hard liquor.

India follows the opposite pattern.

So, the question here is: is affordability the reason for this difference? Is it the excise structure, availability, or simply how drinking has been woven into our culture?

If a particular beverage has been part of a country’s culture for the past century, perhaps that’s what consumers continue to choose. What do you think is driving this?

Udit Mediratta: I think it’s a mix of factors. The cultural nuance is definitely a huge influence.

As I was saying, we consume what we saw our parents consume, and they consumed what they saw their parents consume. It’s like food. We eat what our parents ate. We might experiment a little here and there, but eventually, we like our ghar ka khana, made the way it has been for decades, if not centuries.

The same holds true for alcohol. So, the cultural nuance is definitely a big factor.

The other factor is taxation. Quite often, the cost per serving of a spirits product is much cheaper than that of beer, an RTD or wine.

I think these two factors together contribute to India being the second-largest spirits market in the world, as I mentioned earlier. Those are the two main reasons.

Having said that, I do think this is going to change. As people become more affluent and have more money available to them, we’ll see some of these other products grow as well.

We’re already seeing that with beer. Beer is growing in strong double digits. I think UB announced its results recently, and AB InBev was also in the media a few days ago, talking about how India is going to become a top-five market for them in the near future.

So, I do see some of these other products growing as well. But I think India will continue to remain predominantly a spirits market.

Reshma: There’s also a social cost to heavy drinking. Brands are doing their best and always talk about drinking responsibly. We are not advocating drinking either; we’re just discussing the business of it.

Karnataka, for example, has recently made a change to its excise policy, moving the taxation structure from being price-led to more ABV-led.

What are your thoughts on this? Do you also see it as an initiative to encourage healthier consumption?

Udit Mediratta: Absolutely. I think the global approach to alcohol taxation is based on the alcohol content in the bottle.

For example, if you have 5 ml of alcohol in a one-litre bottle, you pay taxes on those 5 ml. If you have 500 ml, you pay taxes on 500 ml. So, the global best practice is typically taxation based on the alcohol content in the bottle.

Having said that, sometimes there are benefits to spirits. There’s the convenience of a bottle, for example. But when consumption actually happens, even spirits are often diluted.

If you take whiskey, I’m going to pour 30 ml of whiskey and add around 150 ml of water. Maybe I’ll add an ice cube or two. The resulting alcohol content in the glass is under 10%, which is very similar to a strong beer or even lower than that of a wine product.

So, I understand the point about taxation, but I don’t think one or the other is necessarily a healthier way of consuming alcohol. A lot of spirits products are not consumed neat. They’re diluted to a level similar to beer or wine.

So, I don’t necessarily see spirits as healthier products.

5. Global Experience at AB InBev & Brand Localisation

Reshma: Okay. Let me talk a little about your experience. You’ve worked extensively at AB InBev. I understand you’ve been responsible for rolling out Budweiser in many countries. Tell me more about these stints and what it was like working with such legacy brands.

Udit Mediratta: Sure. I did my MBA in 2015 and joined AB InBev straight out of college. I actually joined as part of the China business. I was part of the brand marketing team for Budweiser in China.

An interesting fact: AB InBev sells more Budweiser in China than it sells in its home market of the United States. At that time, it used to sell about $2 billion worth of Budweiser in mainland China, which is around ₹17,000 to ₹18,000 crore.

During my time there, we did a couple of very interesting things. For example, the Chinese are big on drinking beer during meals. Unlike India, where beer is also consumed during dining occasions but is more of a starter, in China, beer is consumed with the meal. About 50% of consumption happens during the meal occasion.

So, we came up with a sub-brand of Budweiser called Budweiser Supreme. It was a single malt beer.

Reshma: Single malt beer!

Udit Mediratta: Yes, we were the first to launch this concept, and it was very successful in China. I led the launch of Budweiser Supreme, from conceptualisation to bringing it to market.

As you mentioned, I was also part of the global marketing team for Budweiser. I was based in the US, headquartered in New York.

We had just acquired SABMiller at that time. About 10 years ago, AB InBev was the biggest beer company in the world, and it still is. SABMiller was the second-largest. We acquired SABMiller, which was very strong in Africa and some markets in Latin America.

I was part of the team that launched Budweiser in Nigeria, South Africa and Colombia as part of the global team.

Reshma: Was there anything during that time that really surprised you or caught your attention?

Udit Mediratta: I remember going to Nigeria for the first time and thinking that it was exactly like India. When people travel to some of these African countries, there are often concerns around security and safety. But I didn’t feel like I had gone to a very different country. It just felt like India from maybe 10 or 15 years ago.

Reshma: I hope you didn’t take that hardship allowance, then!

Udit Mediratta: I went for a very short period, but yes! Even Latin America was very similar to India. I was expecting very different cultures, economies and so on. What surprised me was the similarity.

I was also part of AB InBev India for a while as the Marketing Director. We helped localise Corona and Hoegaarden in India.

As some of you might know, Corona was almost exclusively made in Mexico. We then decided to manufacture it in India. Similarly, Hoegaarden was originally made in Belgium. But because we wanted to grow the market in India, we invested in the capacity to manufacture both brands locally.

So, the Corona and Hoegaarden Draught that we drink today are made in India. Outside their home markets of Mexico and Belgium, respectively, India and China are the only markets where we manufacture them locally.

Reshma: That’s a function of the volumes in the market and its future potential, I suppose.

Udit Mediratta: I think when we did this about five years ago, the market was relatively small. But we’ve seen the growth that has come from having the supply chain closer to the market.

6. Leaving Corporate Life to Build Marmalade & Bright Side

Reshma: So, you moved from big brands, big budgets, big teams and global markets to becoming a founder and starting all over again. And that too, knowing the complexities of the Indian market and choosing whiskey, which is such a competitive category. The question is, why?

Udit Mediratta: There was a simple consumer problem that we thought was unaddressed, especially in spirits in India.

We felt that some of the brands dominating Indian spirits hadn’t necessarily evolved with the times. They weren’t necessarily relevant to the newer generation of consumers coming into the market. So, we felt there was a brand relevance gap.

Second, we also felt that spirits products weren’t necessarily catering to new drinkers. A whiskey, at any price point, was more or less trying to do the same thing. We felt young people wanted products that were better suited to their palate.

As you mentioned earlier in our conversation, coffee has gateway products such as cold coffee or, I don’t know, toffee coffee. What is it called? Coffee Bite, right? Cheese also has products like that. Every acquired-taste category tends to have gateway products.

We felt that Indian spirits didn’t have enough of these gateway products.

We thought the problem was most pronounced in whiskey. Whiskey tends to be one of the most acquired-taste categories within spirits. Also, the brands dominating Indian whiskey felt very much like “Papa-uncle’s brands”, to be frank.

So, those were the two reasons why my co-founder and I decided to leave what we were doing and start Marmalade.

7. The Playbook: White Space, Kotler's 4 Ps & Bright Side Strategy

Reshma: So, where does it start? I want to pivot into breaking this down for someone in the audience who is interested in launching an Alco-Bev brand, or whiskey in particular. How can they go about it? Let’s build a playbook for them.

Where do you start? Do you start with the white space, understanding the need gap or creating the product? Where does the process really begin?

Udit Mediratta: I think, as all of us who’ve gone to business school have studied, you have to start with Kotler’s four Ps. You have to start thinking about each of them and how you’re going to be different from what’s already available in the market.

You have to start with a white space, absolutely, especially as a startup, because you don’t necessarily have the resources or infrastructure available to a larger company.

I strongly believe that for a startup to be successful, it has to be in a white space. Bigger companies can sometimes use their muscle to enter existing segments and categories and build a business. Startups might not be able to do that as successfully.

So, start with the white space. Then, within that white space, think about the four Ps:

Product: What is the product going to be?
Proposition: What is the proposition?
Price: Where will you position it?
Place: What will your distribution plan look like?

You need to think about how you will differentiate yourself at each level to compete with the big players that tend to dominate most categories today.

Reshma: Work the jigsaw puzzle together.

Udit Mediratta: Absolutely. You start with the idea or the white space. Let’s take Bright Side as an example.

What’s the white space? It’s gateway whiskey. Specifically for Bright Side, and more broadly for Marmalade, we’re looking at gateway products for young people. We don’t think anyone is doing that.

As I mentioned earlier, 40% of drinkers are going to be Gen Z by 2030. A lot of young people are entering the category, and they would rather have products that are more suited to their palate. In the case of whiskey, that means something more approachable.

Reshma: Yes, more approachable to the palate.

Udit Mediratta: More approachable to the palate when it comes to whiskey, absolutely. Broadly, at Marmalade, we’re looking at spirits that are better suited to the palate. But let’s take Bright Side as the example. Bright Side is a gateway whiskey. That’s the white space we’ve identified.

Now, in terms of the product, we had to figure out what a gateway whiskey for India might look like.

For example, in the US, there’s a gateway whiskey called Fireball. I think it was launched about 15 years ago, and today it accounts for about 10% of the market.

Reshma: Wow!

Udit Mediratta: Fireball accounts for 10% by volume of the US whiskey market, which is a mature and competitive market.

How did they manage to do that? They identified the exact gap in the US whiskey market. They recognised that whiskey had a huge acquired-taste barrier and that the brands hadn’t necessarily evolved. So, they created Fireball, and it became the success it is today. It’s owned by a company called Sazerac.

Now, Fireball in its current form might not be the right product for India because the Indian style of drinking is very different from the American way of consuming whiskey.

Our first question was: what should this product be?

Indians consume whiskey in a highball, with water or soda and ice. So, we wanted to create a gateway whiskey that worked best with the Indian style of drinking.

The American style of drinking whiskey is often neat shots. Fireball works well with that style. In India, we had to think about the product from scratch. That was our product thinking: we needed to make a gateway whiskey suited to the Indian style of drinking.

In terms of the proposition, we were very clear that this was a product for young people. That’s where our tagline, “Not Your Father’s Whiskey”, comes from. It’s on my T-shirt as well!

We wanted to make a brand for young people, and we broke some of the conventions that exist in whiskey.

If you look at our packaging, we’ve chosen a different shape. Our label has neon green, along with a couple of other elements that we felt were relevant for a brand aimed at today’s young consumer.

That was the second part: the proposition.

On price, we felt the sweet spot was the premium segment. We believe this segment, which accounts for 20% of the market today, could potentially grow to 40% in the near future.

Reshma: Yes, yes.

Udit Mediratta: This is where brands like Blenders Pride and some of the more affordable Scotch whiskies, such as Red Label, tend to sit. We think this is the sweet spot for young people.

A lot of other brands, such as Bacardi and Smirnoff, also play in this segment with products aimed at younger consumers. So, we felt that the premium segment was where we needed to position ourselves on price.

For example, Bright Side is priced at ₹1,750 in Maharashtra. Smirnoff is also around ₹1,750, and Bacardi is about ₹1,800 and a little more, for a large bottle. That was our thinking on price.

In terms of place, India is complicated. There are around 30 markets and 30 different routes to market. We needed to identify a market that was large enough and where we had some kind of unfair advantage.

We felt Maharashtra was that market. An interesting fact: Pernod Ricard and Diageo get 20% of their sales from Maharashtra alone.

Reshma: Wow!

Udit Mediratta: Maharashtra accounts for only 10% of India’s GDP, but 20% of the sales of these large multinational companies. It’s a much more premiumised market, which is one reason for this.

The second reason is that Maharashtra has two metros: Pune and Mumbai.

So, Maharashtra made sense for us because it is a large Alco-Bev market. Also, some of us had worked in Maharashtra during our careers. I had worked there, and so had our Head of Sales, Vikram.

We felt we understood the market to some extent. So, from a place or route-to-market perspective, we decided to start with Maharashtra.

8. Product Development: Liquid Creation, Blend & Smoothness

Reshma: I still want to ask a very fundamental question. When you start off, especially in Alco-Bev, there are so many legal and regulatory mandates to meet. Marketing is tough because it’s a dark market, and the go-to-market itself is complex.

Where do you build this expertise from? What do you hire for? Where do you seek professional help? Where do you start getting all this knowledge and information? If somebody wants to enter the industry, how can they bridge any knowledge gaps?

Udit Mediratta: Sure. I think there are a lot of options today.

For example, manufacturing or supply chain would be a key area where you need to build an understanding. There are a lot of third-party bottlers and distillers across the country now. Goa, for example, is a big hub for this.

Reshma: Yes, right.

Udit Mediratta: So, the manufacturing and distilling expertise exists, and a lot of third-party players are open to conversations with new entrepreneurs. That’s one area.

For brand, packaging and related aspects, there are enough agencies available that understand Alco-Bev. They also understand consumers and how expectations from brands are growing.

The third key area is understanding the route-to-market or go-to-market. You definitely need people who have worked in Indian Alco-Bev to come on board.

If I were advising someone starting a new Alco-Bev business, I would definitely ask them to bring on board a co-founder who has worked in Alco-Bev. That way, you get a better understanding of the regulatory environment and route-to-market.

So, broadly, these are the three key skill sets:

Product, manufacturing and supply chain.
Brand, packaging and the regulatory constraints around them.
Sales and go-to-market.

If I were building a team, I would make sure these skill sets were covered.

Reshma: And to build a sustainable brand, you need a lot of repeat purchases. That’s how you build repeat business. One of the key factors, therefore, is getting the product right.

Tell me, how did you get the product or the liquid right? How did you go about it?

Udit Mediratta: Sure. As I was saying, no one has created a gateway whiskey in India. There have been gateway whiskies outside India, like the example I mentioned in the US, but they’ve been created for those markets and consumers.

So, we had to go on a journey to discover what a gateway whiskey for India would look like.

Initially, we worked with a mixologist, Buland Shukla. He runs a bar in Goa called Off the Record.

Reshma: So, you kind of went off the record…

Udit Mediratta: It’s called Off the Record. That’s the name of the bar.

We worked with him over a couple of months, trying to figure out the directions in which a gateway whiskey suited to the Indian palate and the Indian style of drinking could potentially go.

We came up with three or four directions, which we tested with consumers. But all this was done in a bar. We were using ingredients and products that are typically available to a mixologist.

We then took those learnings to Mr Ashok Chokalingam. He’s the master distiller and master blender at Amrut Distilleries.

We showed him some of the work we had already done with Buland and spoke to him about the concept and the idea. I think he was really excited about this new approach and the idea of creating a whiskey for the next generation. He felt the time had come for this idea.

After a couple of discussions, he came on board and offered to help us take the lab liquids, or bar liquids, and turn them into something that could be taken to production.

That’s how we got in touch with Ashok and eventually partnered with him, with Amrut Distilleries as an extension of that partnership.

Reshma: Fundamentally, what’s the difference between a mixologist and a master distiller?

Udit Mediratta: A mixologist is someone who creates new cocktails in a bar. They tend to use products that are readily available in the market, such as different brands of whiskey, rum and other spirits.

An easy way to think about it is that the ingredients available to a mixologist are the ingredients available in a bar. Those are the ingredients they typically work with.

A master blender or master distiller works more on the production side. Their expertise covers the entire process. You start with raw materials, create a distilled product, age it, and then, once it has been aged, blend it and put it into a bottle for sale.

So, their expertise takes the product from raw materials to the finished product. This involves distillation, which is why the person is called a master distiller. It may also involve some amount of blending at the end of the ageing process, hence the term master blender.

Usually, it’s the same person who handles both roles. The expertise generally rests with one person, although there are obviously people specialising in these areas. India has quite a few of them now.

Reshma: Oh, many of them now, yes!

Udit Mediratta: Yes. So, that’s broadly the difference.

Reshma: I want to understand what happened once you had the liquid. How did you test it with your target group? How did you keep tweaking it? Were there any fun moments or learnings you’d like to share?

Udit Mediratta: You know how sometimes you intuitively think that what you personally like is what everyone else will like? You think, “Hey, I like it, so the whole world will like it!”

I think the consumer testing we did made us realise some of the biases we had ourselves. That’s why testing is extremely important.

For example, we initially had a citrus-forward direction. I’m a big fan of citrus myself. But we realised that Indian consumers didn’t necessarily love the combination of whiskey and citrus.

Indians love citrus independently, and they love whiskey independently, but the two combined don’t necessarily work for them.

Reshma: And there’s no blend with that profile in the market?

Udit Mediratta: No. Jim Beam has a flavoured product called Orange, I think. So, they do have one. I don’t think it’s the largest-selling product in their portfolio, though.

Reshma: So, you tried citrus first?

Udit Mediratta: We did try citrus first. We were quite convinced because Indians do like refreshing drinks. We live in a very hot country, so refreshing alcoholic beverages tend to be preferred.

But we realised that something like that didn’t necessarily work, or that consumers weren’t ready for it yet. That was definitely one learning.

We also learnt that sometimes the direction is right, but the intensity of the flavours needs to be adjusted. It’s about how intense or mild the flavours should be. I think that was a key learning from the bar experiments.

We figured out that spiced was the direction we wanted to take. Bright Side is a spiced whiskey.

Let me explain what spiced means. We took biryani spices or chai spices and blended them into whiskey. So, Bright Side is a spiced whiskey. Another way to think about it is whiskey with botanicals.

We took cinnamon, clove and nutmeg and added them to the whiskey.

What we really established through testing was how intense or mild these flavours needed to be.

Also, I think sometimes testing is not just about taste. The key benefit in Alco-Bev is smoothness. That’s the primary benefit. It’s the benchmark, the key hurdle.

Reshma: How do you define smoothness for a layperson?

Udit Mediratta: Smoothness means no burn in the mouth and no burn in the throat.

Reshma: No burn, quite literally!

Udit Mediratta: Smoothness is essentially the absence of burn.

Sometimes consumers also confuse bitterness with smoothness. If something is bitter, they might think it’s not smooth.

But technically, smoothness is broadly about the absence of a harsh feeling, typically the burn associated with ethanol that you feel in the mouth or throat.

So, smoothness is the key hurdle, and that’s what you need to solve for first. Taste is potentially secondary in our category.

I don’t know, another way to look at it is through carbonated beverages. They need to be refreshing and tasty, but refreshment is the key benefit. We reach for carbonated beverages when we feel thirsty.

In Alco-Bev, the priorities tend to be smoothness first and then taste. You need to get both right, obviously, but smoothness needs to be addressed first.

Reshma: While you get passionate about making the product the way you envisioned it, as a businessman, you also need to keep an eye on costs. How do you balance the two? What are the costs involved in making the product? How do you manage them? I’m referring just to the liquid itself.

Udit Mediratta: Bright Side is a blended whiskey. It has malt whiskies, grain, botanicals and, obviously, the fourth ingredient is water, specifically demineralised water. Those are the four ingredients.

The way we approached it was that we wanted to make a great gateway whiskey. We had these four ingredients to work with.

I don’t think we were as scientific as saying, “Let me fix a cost and then work backwards from it.” We started with the product. We asked ourselves, “What would a world-class gateway whiskey require?” That’s how we figured out the product.

I think we also intuitively understand that the food and beverage product itself is key. Consumers might compromise on other things. For example, your packaging might not look as good as the next product. But if the product itself isn’t good, you won’t get repeat purchases.

You need a product that’s clearly better than the competition or one that solves a consumer problem.

So, we didn’t really start from the cost and work backwards. We took a bottom-up approach and asked, “What are the ingredients we need to make a world-class gateway whiskey?” We then put those ingredients together.

9. Contract Manufacturing, Supply Chains & Packaging Options

Reshma: And where are you manufacturing this today?

Udit Mediratta: We partnered with Amrut Distilleries, so Bright Side is manufactured at their single malt distillery in Bangalore.

Reshma: Wonderful. A lot of contract manufacturing happens in select states, right? I think Goa tends to dominate. Uttar Pradesh is also one of those states. It’s a large Alco-Bev market, and there are a lot of bottlers there too.

What drives the choice of contract manufacturers in these particular states? Are there import policies within states? Is it more about taxation or supply chain? What are the variables? Why have these hubs emerged?

Udit Mediratta: Sure. I think logistics costs are significant, so you need to be close to your markets. That’s definitely one factor.

Goa is convenient because it’s close to a lot of Alco-Bev markets. Maharashtra is a large market, Karnataka is another, and so are Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Goa is well placed to cater to multiple markets in West and South India. That’s one reason.

The second reason for Goa’s emergence is the regulatory ease and the ecosystem that has developed there.

I don’t think regulation is a major hassle in most Indian states. I think the Indian government has done a good job of trying to make things easier for businesses. But the ecosystem has definitely emerged in Goa.

You could take a concept to Goa and find all the people you need to potentially get the final product onto the shelf. So, I think Goa helps in that regard.

The third factor is the size of the market. You want to be in large markets, and manufacturing within those markets can make things easier.

There are import taxes between states. If I sell from Haryana to Uttar Pradesh, for example, I might have to pay taxes to the Uttar Pradesh government for bringing the product in from another state.

So, if there’s a large market like Uttar Pradesh, you might want to manufacture within the state to save on those import duties or taxes.

Reshma: Is the availability of grain also a factor, given that it’s one of the raw materials or inputs you require?

Udit Mediratta: Not necessarily. India has a fairly large ethanol manufacturing footprint now, thanks to the blending that happens with petrol. We’re making some really high-quality ethanol across the country. So, raw materials are not the biggest factor.

Sometimes, provenance or origin can be part of your brand storytelling, and that might influence your decision to manufacture in one state over another.

For example, if I want to talk about the fact that my product is made in the Himalayas, then I need to be in Uttarakhand or Himachal Pradesh.

Those can be other, more brand-led factors. But from a supply chain perspective, the big factors are import duties, logistics costs and the ecosystem that might exist in a particular state.

Reshma: And when you contract with a third party for manufacturing, what should your contract look like? What are the must-haves? For example, recipe ownership or audit rights. What are the other elements you think the contract should include?

Udit Mediratta: Absolutely. First, there should be an opportunity for as much oversight as possible over the entire process, starting with the raw materials that come in and continuing through the process of converting them into the final product.

You or your team should be able to oversee the process and ensure the quality you’re promising to consumers.

For me, having that quality oversight is the most important thing, and it should be embedded in your contracts.

Second, you need to protect your intellectual property. I think that’s important.

The way many other companies have handled this is by taking exclusive areas within third-party bottlers or distillers. A lot of the recipe work potentially happens in these spaces before the product moves to the packaging line or elsewhere for bottling.

There are many ways to control your IP. Obviously, you can protect yourself legally through contracts, but sometimes these things are not as easy to enforce. So, many companies have taken exclusive spaces within distilleries to manage this.

Third, it’s important to keep continuity in mind.

This is a food and beverage product. You need to build the processes and relationships required to ensure that a consistently good-quality product is produced end to end.

Long-term associations with bottlers are important. As someone setting up a business, you should think about which partners you can build long-term relationships with and how you can structure your contracts to ensure continuity.

Reshma: Moving from the liquid to the bottle and packaging, most of the bottles, I think 99%, are glass bottles. Is that because of the liquid compatibility, or is it simply how the industry has always been?

Udit Mediratta: Glass bottles tend to be the most non-reactive. They’ve also been used historically, and glass has a certain premiumness associated with it.

I think those are the reasons why glass bottles have traditionally been used. They’re easily accessible, non-reactive and definitely look more premium than plastic or other materials.

Reshma: But are there any other alternatives?

Udit Mediratta: There are. PET is one option. It’s a plastic hip-flask-style pack, like the Hipster pack that Diageo launched and others followed.

They’ve ensured that the PET has coatings on the inside that keep the packaging non-reactive.

Stainless steel is another option. Cherrapunji is a brand that uses stainless steel bottles.

Outside India, some brands also use aluminium bottles. Beer is sold in aluminium cans, but outside India, beer is also sold in aluminium bottles.

So, aluminium is definitely an option. Stainless steel is much more expensive, but it’s obviously better for the environment because it can be reused.

Reshma: And are these bottles manufactured in India? The glass ones, for example?

Udit Mediratta: For glass bottles, we have a very extensive…

Reshma: And what about the other materials?

Udit Mediratta: For some of the other materials, such as aluminium cans, yes. Aluminium bottles are not produced in India yet. Most of the supply chain is in China.

Reshma: It’s China.

Udit Mediratta: I think some Southeast Asian countries also produce aluminium bottles for Alco-Bev.

For products such as deodorants, aluminium bottles are made in India. But stainless steel is an outlier. Not too many brands in the world use it. I’m also not sure where Cherrapunji sources its bottles from.

10. Label Regulations & Registration Complexity

Reshma: Another important element of packaging in Alco-Bev is the label. How do you design a label in this industry, particularly when it has its own nuances around getting approval from the state excise department?

Udit Mediratta: There are two regulatory bodies to consider.

One is FSSAI, which is India’s food regulatory body. You have to ensure that your Alco-Bev product meets its requirements. FSSAI has mandated certain essentials that need to be included on the label, and you need to adhere to them.

The second is the local state-level excise regulation. So, in addition to FSSAI requirements, you might also have state-level regulations to follow.

Reshma: And because you mentioned states, does that mean the requirements can change from one state to another?

Udit Mediratta: Yes, they’ll mostly differ across states in India.

If you want your product to be available in two states, there’s a possibility that you may need two different labels. That’s one way to solve it. Alternatively, you can design a single label that meets the regulatory requirements of both states.

Reshma: So, you need a permutation and combination to be available in 25-plus states?

Udit Mediratta: Yes. You might be able to come up with what we could call a compound label.

That’s how the industry often works. A label is designed to meet the excise requirements of almost all states across the country.

FSSAI regulations are the same across the country, as they’re a national requirement. It’s only the excise regulations where you might find local variations.

Reshma: Got it. So, we spoke about how consumer preferences and occasions are changing. When you developed the liquid, you mentioned adding spices and other ingredients. How did you arrive at the conclusion that this was the taste profile that your target segment would appreciate? I’m assuming this is an entry-level product aimed at Gen Z. Was there some research involved?

Udit Mediratta: There’s no way to know for sure. You have to put it in the market!

Research can help you get some indications. But when consumers have to pay for a product and consume it in their natural settings, their behaviour can be very different from what you observe in a lab or an artificially created research setting.

I think the best way to approach this is to launch in a city or a state, observe the response and then improve or iterate.

I’ve worked in both large and small companies. Large companies tend to conduct very extensive research. Sometimes they conduct quantitative studies with 500, 1,000 or even 2,000 people.

But even there, my experience has been that consumer behaviour under research settings is very different from how people behave in their natural environment, such as when they’re hanging out with friends or sitting at home and drinking.

I would absolutely recommend conducting research, taking the learnings and improving the product or the overall offering. But you should definitely launch and pilot it in a city or a state before expanding further.

Reshma: The registration process is probably the most painful part of our industry!

Udit Mediratta: It is.

Reshma: Tell me a little more about what the process looks like, how cost-heavy it can get, where you spend your time, where you seek professional or external help, and what are the things that a founder must keep an eye on or handle themselves.

Udit Mediratta: Let me take a step back here. First and foremost, it is quite complicated.

To handle this complexity, you would need experts, either on board or potentially on retainer, to manage it well. As a startup, I think those costs can be prohibitive.

The way we handled it was by registering Bright Side in only two states: our manufacturing state, Karnataka, and our selling state, Maharashtra.

So, if I were advising someone starting out, I would say: figure out your market and understand the regulations in that state first. Build a reasonable business there, achieve product-market fit, build the business and learn from it. Then potentially expand state by state.

If you handle one state at a time, the regulatory requirements are manageable. But if you’re a startup saying, “I want to be in 15 states in six months,” you’ll definitely feel overwhelmed because you won’t have the resources to manage that complexity.

Bright Side and Marmalade have an advantage, and this was a conscious choice we made. We’re in a category that has critical mass at the state level.

What do I mean by that? Here’s an interesting fact: the whiskey market of Pune alone is larger than the gin market of India!

Reshma: Oh, really!

Udit Mediratta: That’s the kind of depth that exists in whiskey.

For example, we can build a multi-hundred-crore whiskey business in Maharashtra alone. If I’m in gin or tequila, I don’t have that option. I potentially need to be present in all the metros to build any kind of critical mass.

That was one of the reasons we decided to launch with whiskey.

We asked ourselves, “Which category has critical mass in India?” Today, only whiskey has critical mass at the state level. Unfortunately, no other category does. That might change 10 years from now.

So, build that critical mass, establish a reasonably large business and then add more brands to it. That’s how I would recommend managing India’s regulatory complexity: focus.

Reshma: And from a cost perspective, can you shed some light on where your time goes and what the costs look like?

Udit Mediratta: The costs are not very high in Maharashtra or Karnataka, for that matter.

I’ll give you an example. In Karnataka, the cost of lifetime registration for a brand is ₹1 lakh. So, it’s just ₹1 lakh for the lifetime of the brand, unless I decide to change the label or make some changes. In that case, there’s a minor additional cost, but it’s not significant.

Reshma: But is there a window for, say, 10% changes to the label, or something along those lines?

Udit Mediratta: That’s correct. Even if you make minor changes, you have to pay a lesser amount, but you still have to inform the authorities.

So, it’s ₹1 lakh in Karnataka. In Maharashtra, I think it’s around ₹25,000 to ₹30,000.

There are some states, such as Delhi, where registration costs are quite high. I understand that in Delhi, it can be around ₹10 lakh to ₹20 lakh to register one label for domestic brands. Imported brands are cheaper.

Reshma: That’s counterintuitive.

Udit Mediratta: Counterintuitive, yes! I’m sure they’ll correct it in the near future, but that’s how it works today.

So, registration costs are not very high in some states. However, if you have your own manufacturing facility, there are additional licences that might be required.

For example, if I manufacture at my own distillery in Goa, I might need something called a K-form in Maharashtra to import the product into the state. Those are additional costs that might come up.

But right now, we’re assuming that we’re a new company and will potentially be working with a third-party bottler.

Reshma: Yes. The assumption here is that setting up your own distillery is not an option for a founder.

Udit Mediratta: Absolutely. That’s a huge investment, and there are other regulatory costs involved.

But if you’re working with a reasonably sized third-party manufacturer, they usually already have the licences required to sell across the country.

11. Route-to-Market Models & Channel Strategy

Reshma: Coming to my favourite subject: go-to-market and sales. We touched upon the choice of markets you started with, but could you break down the parameters you considered when choosing those markets? What does the go-to-market landscape look like in Alco-Bev, and what influences the choices you make?

Udit Mediratta: India is a slightly complicated market when it comes to go-to-market.

One important fact is that e-commerce for Alco-Bev is mostly not allowed. There are exceptions. I think West Bengal and Odisha allow it. But more broadly, e-commerce as a go-to-market channel does not exist in the country today.

Each state tends to make its own policies around go-to-market, based on its local history, conditions and other factors.

Broadly, three types of distribution or go-to-market models exist in India:

Entirely private distribution: This is similar to the consumer goods model. You have a private distributor, who supplies to private retailers, who then sell to consumers.
Corporation or semi-government markets: Here, the government has a partial role to play. These are called corporation markets. You typically sell to a state government corporation, which then sells to private retailers. Karnataka and Telangana are good examples of this semi-government or corporation setup.
Government-controlled markets: In this model, the government is involved end to end. Retail is also government-owned, and distribution may be managed by the government or manufacturers may directly supply to government retailers. Tamil Nadu is an example of a state where the government manages retail. Delhi is another example, where retail is run through corporations owned by the Delhi government.

These are broadly the structures that exist.

Some are easier than others for a new entrant. Entirely private distribution and retail tend to be a little easier because you don’t have to deal with some of the additional regulatory requirements and constraints that come with working with a government organisation.

Maharashtra, Goa and Haryana are examples of entirely private markets.

For a new startup, I think you can learn to work with any of these models. But you need to focus on a smaller number of states.

As I mentioned earlier in the context of regulation, try to win in one or two markets before expanding. Rather than asking, “Which go-to-market model works better for me?”, ask, “Which is an important market where I think my product will be most successful?” Go there, understand its go-to-market structure and work around it.

My broader recommendation for the Indian Alco-Bev market is to focus. Do one or two states extremely well, and then expand to the rest of the country in a modular fashion.

Reshma: How well-versed are you with the nuances of these markets? Do you rely on experts and build a team with people who understand the local requirements?

Udit Mediratta: I worked in Indian Alco-Bev for a while. I was part of the marketing team at AB InBev, and I also worked at SABMiller. That’s actually where I started my career in Alco-Bev.

So, I have a broad understanding, but not a deep understanding. As we launch markets, we have the expertise within our team to understand Maharashtra and Karnataka. But as we expand into more markets in the future, we will definitely need to bring in people who understand the regulatory requirements and go-to-market structures of those states.

Reshma: And how easy or difficult is it to find this talent?

Udit Mediratta: Definitely not easy. I don’t think this is a challenge unique to Alco-Bev. It’s a challenge for new companies.

New companies have less recognition in the market, and there is obviously a certain amount of risk involved in joining one. I’d also like to say that there’s a potential reward if the company does well, because you’re joining at a very early stage. But the risk and lack of recognition are definite obstacles.

I think I underestimated how much of a challenge this could be. I had only worked in large companies before this, which were well-known across the world.

The way to solve this, and something I’ve read and heard about but now know to be absolutely true, is that founders themselves have to do the hiring. That’s how you bring in talent. You need to convince people about what you’re building and give them the confidence that it’s a great place to build their careers.

Reshma: Hiring the right talent to build the right culture is also an important task, isn’t it?

Udit Mediratta: Absolutely. I think the founding team matters more than anything else.

I’d read about how recruiting early talent is critical, but I’ve also seen it in action now. With the founding team, you’re able to spend a lot more time together. If there’s a shared vision and a certain way in which you want to win in the market, hiring the right founding team and spending time with them helps you deliver on that vision.

Reshma: While building the right culture, another aspect is putting the right operational systems and processes in place.

When you enter a complex go-to-market environment and build a sales team, which is already a difficult task, how important is it to get the support systems in place, particularly sales systems and processes?

Udit Mediratta: I think it’s absolutely critical.

As I was saying earlier, Alco-Bev is an offline business, so it is driven by your sales teams in the markets.

You need to ensure that your sales teams are well-equipped with information and data. You also need to ensure that they follow the processes you’ve set for marketing and maintain a certain level of discipline.

Technology and the solutions available in the market today really help you achieve that. You want discipline, you want processes to be followed, and you want your teams to be empowered.

Reshma: Given the investment choices that are difficult to make at the beginning, is this also something you would prioritise investing in?

Udit Mediratta: I think it matters much more in offline businesses than it does in online businesses.

The second thing is that your salesperson is your most important and productive resource. Ensuring that you’re able to help them become more productive is critical.

That was a conscious decision we made. We invested in a solution early in our journey.

Reshma: Another aspect of go-to-market is the channel strategy. In Alco-Bev, there is on-trade and off-trade. Could you explain the difference and talk about the choices you’ve made?

Udit Mediratta: There are broadly two channels in Indian Alco-Bev.

Off-trade is where a consumer buys a bottle and consumes it away from the premises. For example, you buy it from a liquor store.

Reshma: Liquor stores. Did I say online and offline, or did I say on-trade and off-trade?

Udit Mediratta: You said on-trade and off-trade. I was just trying to explain what they mean.

Off-trade is where consumption happens off-premise. On-trade is called on-trade because consumption happens on the premises themselves.

So, off-trade includes liquor stores and wine shops. On-trade includes bars and restaurants that have a licence to serve alcohol. This is also sometimes referred to as hospitality or HoReCa.

India is largely an off-trade market. Around 85% of alcohol sales happen through off-trade, while about 15% happen through on-trade.

Even this varies by category. Beer might have a 75:25 split in some states, while spirits tend to be closer to 90:10. Beer is more suited to on-trade consumption occasions.

As a whiskey brand, off-trade definitely mattered more to us.

We felt that both off-trade and on-trade offered opportunities for brand discovery. But what matters is the stage of the company. We want people to discover our brand, and both channels are important for that.

You need to invest in both channels, but you also need to figure out where to invest within each channel.

Not every off-trade outlet allows for brand discovery. If it’s a single-shutter outlet where sales happen over the counter, brand discovery is more difficult. In a walk-in outlet, brand discovery and brand communication might be easier.

Similarly, in on-trade, some outlets offer a more experiential drinking occasion, while others are more transactional. In the latter, people come in, have their drink and move on.

So, even within on-trade, you need to identify outlets that offer more experiential occasions and allow for organic brand discovery.

Both channels matter, but the fact is that spirits have a 90:10 split. So, most of our investments ended up going towards off-trade.

We also believe, and this is our opinion, that whiskey discovery happens a lot in off-trade. A consumer might walk into a liquor store and discover a new brand there.

Reshma: Alco-Bev is also an exploratory category. People want to try new things, unlike categories such as toothpaste. Retailer advocacy also matters.

Udit Mediratta: It matters a lot. We strongly believe that a lot of whiskey brand discovery happens in off-trade. So, in terms of our investments, we focus more on off-premise than on-premise.

Reshma: Another aspect of on-trade and off-trade is channel costing. Is there a difference between the two? Is it significant?

Udit Mediratta: The difference comes from where companies and brands choose to focus their investments.

We’ve seen that in some premium on-premise outlets, larger brands and companies tend to invest more. Availability and brand discovery there therefore come at a premium because you’re competing with other brands and businesses.

That’s not to say they don’t invest in off-trade. But it tends to be cheaper. If you calculate it using the cost-per-trial metric, I would say off-trade tends to be more cost-effective from an investment perspective.

12. Marketing in a Dark Market & Community Building

Reshma: Marketing in Alco-Bev is difficult because it’s a dark market. What is allowed and what isn’t? You’ve also taken on the challenge of entering whiskey, where competitors have some of the deepest pockets. How are you dealing with that? How has it been so far?

Udit Mediratta: There are two ways to look at this.

First, the regulations vary because they come under the purview of local state excise departments. Different states have different rules about what’s allowed and what’s not allowed.

For example, the rules in Maharashtra are different from those in Delhi. Goa, as many people might have seen, allows a lot more in terms of marketing.

Some things are definitely not allowed. ATL advertising, including mass communication channels, is not permitted for Alco-Bev. Television, print and outdoor advertising are out of scope.

What is allowed is in-premise marketing, although this is permitted only in some states, not all.

For example, in Goa, you may be allowed to put up a poster inside a bar or a liquor store. The same may not be allowed in Delhi. Broadly speaking, most states allow some form of point-of-sale or point-of-consumption marketing, depending on their regulations.

Honestly, for a new brand, where would you want to invest? You want to invest where there’s the highest concentration of potential buyers.

Where is that concentration? It’s not on television or social media. It’s inside a bar, where everyone is potentially drinking.

So, it makes sense for a startup to invest in-premise because the conversions and return on marketing investment could potentially be much better.

That’s broadly what is and isn’t allowed.

Reshma: And what about social media? Is that allowed?

Udit Mediratta: You’re allowed to run your own social media handles, provided they’re age-gated. At this point, you’re allowed to run your own handles.

Reshma: Can you run ads on them, or can you only create a community through your handles?

Udit Mediratta: You can create an age-gated community. Ads are not allowed. You cannot run ads on Google, Meta or Apple.

Reshma: What if you had an opportunity to bring a celebrity on board? A lot of brands do that. What’s your take on celebrity endorsements in the current context? We understand that they help with reach, but what do they really do for an Alco-Bev brand today?

Udit Mediratta: I’ll speak specifically about Bright Side and then more broadly about Alco-Bev.

For Bright Side, we’re at a very early stage. We really want to focus on trials. We want people to try our product.

As I mentioned earlier, I think there’s a better return on investment from in-premise marketing or point-of-sale and point-of-consumption marketing than from a celebrity endorsement at this point.

It’s simply a better place to invest at this stage of the brand journey.

More broadly, celebrity endorsements are quite common in Alco-Bev. What do they help with? They help build awareness and credibility.

For example, Glenwalk has Sanjay Dutt. Several cricketers have endorsed whiskey brands in the past, and the Bachchans have also been associated with brands.

Reshma: The Bachchans have come in too, yes!

Udit Mediratta: You’re right. Ranveer Singh is associated with a couple of brands, including vodka and tequila.

Reshma: He’s associated with vodka, okay.

Udit Mediratta: Yes, vodka. Amitabh Bachchan endorsed Officer’s Choice.

A number of celebrities have entered Alco-Bev. I think what this allows is for some of the celebrity’s lifestyle to rub off on the brand. It also helps differentiate the brand to a certain extent.

That’s why a lot of celebrity endorsements happen. Awareness and credibility are one part of it, but the other is that you’re able to bring a certain aspect of the celebrity’s lifestyle into the brand.

Given that Alco-Bev is largely an emotional purchase, with limited functional differentiation between products, this can help.

Having said that, I don’t see a big role for celebrity endorsements. That’s my personal opinion. While they’re happening, and at a much faster pace in India than in the past, I don’t think they’re necessary.

I think Alco-Bev is a word-of-mouth category. Word of mouth spreads based on the product and the overall brand experience.

Reshma: Focus on the liquid. That’s…

Udit Mediratta: Focus on the liquid and focus on the brand.

When you try a new whiskey, you might take a photo of it and share it with your friends. You wouldn’t do that with toothpaste. You wouldn’t say, “Hey, I tried this new toilet cleaner. It really cleaned my toilet!”

It’s a category that naturally lends itself to sharing.

My view is that you should focus on that. If you have limited resources, I’d put the money into the brand experience and the product.

Reshma: And then there’s surrogate marketing. When does that come in, and what role does it play in the marketing ecosystem?

Udit Mediratta: It’s sometimes called surrogate marketing and sometimes called brand extensions.

The ASCI, or Advertising Standards Council of India, policy is that these need to be relevant businesses in their own right.

An Alco-Bev business might see an opportunity in an adjacent category that it can build and grow. For example, many Alco-Bev brands have products such as sodas, water or ginger ale.

The idea is that they see a significant opportunity in those adjacent categories. Since these products are non-alcoholic, they may also allow brands to use some mass-media communication channels.

Reshma: Can an Alco-Bev company build a strong community without excessively promoting drinking? What does responsible marketing mean to you?

Udit Mediratta: Humans have a natural need for community.

Communities can be built by consumers themselves, or a brand can facilitate them. But a brand is never going to be at the centre of a community. It’s the shared interest that brings people together.

So, we need to figure out what that shared interest is.

It could be cocktails. People might be interested in making cocktails and trying new things. That’s a common interest around which a brand can bring people together.

Or it could be sport, watching cricket or something else that a brand could potentially build around.

The point is that the community should not be centred on drinking. The idea is to build it around a shared interest. Brands in Alco-Bev need to identify a shared interest or a potential gap in the market and build around it.

It absolutely should not be about drinking, because that would not be responsible.

Take Red Bull, for example. Its entire community is based on extreme sports. It identified a passion point or shared interest among consumers and built a community around it.

Red Bull is not at the centre of that community. It’s a supporter or facilitator of a shared interest.

I think Alco-Bev brands should think in the same way. Identify a shared interest or passion point among your relevant consumers and become a supporter of it.

Reshma: So, it’s more about the emotional connection than the functional one. That’s how you balance it out.

Udit Mediratta: Yes. I don’t think it’s necessarily about the product. I don’t think you can create a community around a product.

For example, you can’t simply say, “This is a community for Kia Seltos owners.” The community is more likely to form around racing or highway driving.

The brand or product can never be at the centre of a community. It has to be a passion point. A brand needs to figure out what that relevant passion point is for its users, whether or not it directly matches the brand.

That’s a basic principle of building a community in any consumer business, and it applies to Alco-Bev as well.

Reshma: Absolutely. So, the assumption is that the price you offer consumers is a function of the segment you’re operating in, the liquid you’ve created and the other costs involved. Is that right?

Udit Mediratta: Exactly. That’s how we thought about Bright Side.

As I mentioned earlier, we believe the premium segment is going to be the future of this category. A lot of the volume will move towards it.

Today, the volume is in the regular segment, but we think consumers will upgrade to the premium segment. We believe the heart of the premium segment will be around the price at which we’ve launched Bright Side: ₹1,750.

For example, Blenders Pride is a brand with a significant share of the volume in our category, close to 50% of the segment. It’s priced at ₹1,500.

We think consumers will potentially premiumise by around 10% to 15% and become willing to pay ₹1,700, ₹1,750 or ₹1,800 for a good bottle of whiskey.

That’s partly because we’ve made the product more palatable, but also because consumers have more money and are willing to pay more for a better product.

The reason we didn’t price it lower or higher was that we would have crossed the 10%, 15% or 20% price barrier.

If Blenders Pride is priced at ₹1,500, a 20% increase takes you to ₹1,800. We think that beyond this point, consumers would start comparing it differently with Blenders Pride.

So, we decided to stay within that 20% barrier.

13. Fundraising, Investors & Early Validation

Reshma: I know what I wanted to ask you next: funding, funding, funding!

Founders often underestimate the runway and cash flow they’ll need when they start a business. How have you approached this? First, congratulations on raising ₹6 crore in seed funding. That’s brilliant. Tell us how you’re approaching the whole funding game.

Udit Mediratta: One needs to plan well for the cash the business is going to require. You need to plan over the medium term, not just the next six or 12 months. You should be able to estimate the cash requirements under different scenarios over a 24 to 36-month period.

It’s difficult to project some of these things because you’re creating a new business.

We’ve managed some of this ambiguity by focusing. We decided that we would operate in only one state. We understand that state fully, including the costs of setting up and establishing the brand there. That’s how we have more control and a better understanding of the cash we’ll require.

What we’ve raised so far, and thank you for that, is to launch fully in Maharashtra. As I said, it’s a state we understand completely. We understand what the next 18 to 24 months will require, and we put together our funding round based on that.

Having said that, Alco-Bev in India can be challenging from a funding perspective. There are a number of venture funds that don’t invest in sin categories. Some also have money from the Middle East, which explicitly restricts them from investing in Alco-Bev.

So, anyone starting a business in this category needs to be aware of these challenges.

Having said that, I think there are enough people in India who see the growth potential of Alco-Bev in our country.

To give you an example, if you look at the valuation-to-revenue multiples of some publicly listed Alco-Bev companies, they’re significantly higher than those of other consumer goods companies.

Radico Khaitan, for example, is currently at around seven to eight times revenue. A large company like United Spirits has a top line of ₹25,000 crore and trades at revenue multiples of around six.

These revenue multiples in the Indian Alco-Bev public markets indicate the industry’s potential.

So, despite the funding challenges at the startup stage, I think there’s broad agreement that this is an industry where significant growth will happen over the next 10 to 20 years.

Reshma: Do you have investors who understand Alco-Bev in detail, or do they focus more on the founder and their expertise? Or is it more of a case of, “You know the industry, so I’m out”?

Udit Mediratta: I can only speak about the investors we’ve met and those who’ve committed to or invested in the company.

We’ve seen a few different categories of investors.

The first group comprises people who understand Alco-Bev. They understand how what we’re doing is distinct from what’s already in the market, and they recognise the expertise we bring.

Ashok Chokalingam, for example, has invested in Marmalade. We also have a couple of other Alco-Bev investors, including people who worked at AB InBev and the founding family of Don Q Rum.

So, we have a number of investors from the Alco-Bev industry. If you’re starting an Alco-Bev business, having this kind of support is a good boost of confidence.

Reshma: It absolutely is!

Udit Mediratta: That’s one segment.

The second group comprises people who understand the consumer story. They recognise that we’re building a distinctive brand and company. A distinctive brand and company can win in any category, whether B2B or B2C.

So, the second group includes people who understand consumer goods or the Indian consumer.

The third group comprises people who believed in us as professionals.

They might not necessarily understand Alco-Bev or the consumer business, but they understand our backgrounds. For example, I’ve spent close to 20 years in consumer goods and Alco-Bev, while my head of sales has been in this business for the last 30 years.

These investors recognise that we are the right people to disrupt the industry.

Those are the kinds of investors we’ve brought on board. If you’re starting a new Alco-Bev company, I think these are the people you should approach.

We’ve figured this out through trial and error, but go to people who understand your industry, people who understand the brand you’re trying to build, and people who believe in you.

Reshma: And when you approach potential investors, what are they looking at? What kind of numbers or insights help them make a decision?

Udit Mediratta: Different numbers and insights matter at different stages of a company.

We effectively raised a seed round, so we had very limited business data. We launched Bright Side in January, and it’s September now. We’ve been in the market for only eight months.

As an investor, the first thing they look at is the founders and their backgrounds. That’s something we saw investors were very interested in understanding.

The second thing they wanted to know about was the brand and the product, including their own experience with it.

The third is data, although it’s limited at this stage. What they’re trying to understand is whether there’s product-market fit.

It’s difficult to establish product-market fit firmly at an early stage, but there are a few indicators investors look for.

The big one is repeat purchase. They want to know whether consumers who have tried your product are coming back and buying it again.

Everything else can potentially be addressed. You can increase trials through better marketing activities, but repeat purchase is inherent to what you’re creating.

That’s true for any consumer brand, especially when customer acquisition costs are high. You can’t sustain the business without good repeat purchase.

The challenge is that in offline consumer businesses, repeat purchases are more difficult to measure than in e-commerce or D2C businesses, where you have precise information.

Reshma: But retailer reorder rates can be a proxy for understanding repeat purchases, can’t they?

Udit Mediratta: Absolutely. If you track them over a sufficiently long period, they’re as good an indicator as consumer repeat purchases.

Reshma: Eventually, you could also invest in smarter tools to understand what retailers are saying about your new products.

Udit Mediratta: Absolutely. One thing we did, as a side note, was that I personally spoke to about 1,000 consumers who had tried our product.

I called them myself.

Here’s an interesting fact: the customer care number on our whiskey bottle is actually my direct mobile number!

Reshma: Oh, okay!

Udit Mediratta: So, I do get some calls late at night, which is a lot of fun.

But we were very clear that we wanted direct consumer feedback. One way we did that was by putting the phone number on the bottle.

The second thing was that when our teams were doing spot selling, we actively collected consumers’ phone numbers with their permission. I then called them to understand their feedback on the brand and the product.

This also gave us early information on repeat rates, even before some of those retailer reorder rates started coming in.

14. Exit Horizons & M&A Opportunities

Reshma: I love that. We speak so often, and I know how close you are to the market. As a founder, seeing you so closely involved with consumers and the market is amazing.

My next question is not specifically about Bright Side. What are the exit options for a founder in Alco-Bev? Do large conglomerates look for new brands to acquire? Do you see joint ventures and partnerships, or do companies largely build these businesses to run profitably over the long term? What do the exit options look like?

Udit Mediratta: There are a lot of exit options.

First, India is probably the most important Alco-Bev market in the world today. It’s growing in double digits and, as I mentioned, is among the top five markets.

A lot of companies from the Western world, including Europe and the US, and even from the Eastern world, such as Japan and Southeast Asia, are looking to enter India.

If you have a brand that gives them a head start in terms of distribution or an established team, that could become a potential exit route. These would be companies entering the country.

The second option is Indian companies that are trying to scale.

We’ve all heard of MNCs such as Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Bacardi, Beam Suntory and Moët Hennessy. But there are also several Indian companies that are regional today and are trying to become national players.

If your brand fits into their portfolio, that could be another exit opportunity.

The third option is companies operating in adjacent categories. You may have heard about Varun Beverages’ recent entry into Alco-Bev. There are Indian companies in adjacent categories that are looking to enter the alcohol industry.

The fourth option is the public markets. If you can achieve scale, there’s significant appetite for Indian Alco-Bev companies in the public markets.

That requires a little more scale. You could potentially list on the SME platform, but if you want to list on the main board, you’ll need a larger business.

So, these three or four options definitely exist.

I think exiting is the easier part. Starting is more difficult in Alco-Bev.

Reshma: That’s different from the consumer brand space. Starting a business has become a little easier, especially with greater accessibility, but exits can be difficult.

Udit Mediratta: I think Alco-Bev is a little different.

If you can prove product-market fit and achieve reasonable scale, I don’t think exit options will be difficult to find.

15. Rapid-Fire Questions

Reshma: Lovely! We’re towards the end of this conversation. It’s been amazing having you here.

I have a few fun questions. I know what you’ve done with Budweiser, and we know what you’re building with Bright Side. But are you a whiskey person or a beer person?

Udit Mediratta: It depends on the occasion.

Reshma: No, give me one choice!

Udit Mediratta: Beer is my first love! I worked in beer for the longest time, and Bright Side is my current love.

But seriously, if it’s a daytime occasion, I’ll have beer. If it’s an evening or night occasion, I prefer whiskey.

Reshma: Are you a day drinker or a night-party person?

Udit Mediratta: I usually drink at night, but I’m also open to drinking on a Sunday. I love boozy brunches! But yes, mostly at night.

Reshma: You’re a brunch person too! If you had to choose someone to represent your brand, would it be a pop star, a Bollywood celebrity or an influencer who speaks to your target audience?

Udit Mediratta: I think I’d lean towards a creator or an influencer.

It’s about the frequency of interaction consumers have with these people. You might see a Bollywood star once a year when they release a film, and perhaps less frequently on social media. But with a creator or influencer, you might see a reel from them every day.

So, I’d potentially want to partner with creators and influencers rather than necessarily a Bollywood celebrity.

Reshma: In India, you can get married and vote at 18, but you can’t pick up a glass of whiskey and drink it in some states. Why this hypocrisy?

Udit Mediratta: Maybe the government wants you to prove that you can choose a good government first. It wants you to demonstrate your maturity by selecting the right government at all levels, choosing a partner and displaying that maturity before you move on to matured spirits!

Reshma: So, deciding what to drink, when to drink and how much to drink is the toughest decision ever, isn’t it?

Udit Mediratta: It’s not an easy one!

Reshma: What’s your favourite occasion to drink whiskey?

Udit Mediratta: Friday night. I like Friday or Saturday nights, when the week has ended and I can sit at home and nurse a whiskey.

Reshma: And what’s that one food pairing you enjoy with whiskey?

Udit Mediratta: I love masala peanuts! I’m a big fan of peanuts, so that’s my go-to.

My father was in the army, so I ended up eating a lot of masala peanuts growing up. I think they’re one of the most underrated Indian snacks.

I’ve also been spending a lot of time in Maharashtra. We launched in Pune and then Mumbai, and I discovered masala papad! I hadn’t eaten much of it before, but I realised it’s actually quite nice.

Across much of the country, you can get papad, but not necessarily masala papad. So, I think that’s another underrated snack.

Reshma: Your tagline is “Not Your Father’s Whiskey”. But what’s that one Indian snack from your father’s generation that you think is an all-time hit?

Udit Mediratta: I think I’ve already said it! It’s masala peanuts, for sure.

Let me think of another one. I’m also a big fan of cheese balls!

Reshma: You know those club snacks with pineapple, cherry and cheese?

Udit Mediratta: Yes! Now that you’ve mentioned it, I’ll go with that too. Especially at membership clubs, not the very fancy ones. You tend to get that pineapple and cheese combination. It’s really nice!

Reshma: One word that describes entrepreneurship?

Udit Mediratta: Patience. I think patience. You need to be there through all the ups and downs. I think everyone has said that quite well.

Reshma: I’ve experienced it myself. If I had to give you one word, it would be focus.

The number of times I’ve spoken to you, and we’ve explored so many creative possibilities and discussed what we should unlock first and how to go about it, you’ve always come back to wanting to stay focused. So, I think that’s another important word.

Udit Mediratta: Absolutely.

Reshma: A big idea or perfect execution? What would you choose?

Udit Mediratta: I don’t think you can start without a big idea.

My former CEO at AB InBev used to say, “Dream big or dream small, it takes the same amount of effort.”

Whether you say, “I want to make this the best shop in Bandra,” or “I’m going to become the biggest retailer in the world,” dreaming takes the same amount of effort.

You need to start with a big idea, something that is potentially aimed at changing the world in some way.

So, a big idea, absolutely! But obviously, without execution, an idea is just an idea. You need execution, but start with the big idea.

Reshma: Lovely! If Bright Side Craft Whiskey were a person, what would its personality be like?

Udit Mediratta: Bright Side is an irreverent brand. It’s unserious and funny. It doesn’t try to take itself too seriously.

That’s how we’ve thought about Bright Side. If you look at our logo, you’ll see that we’re trying to have a lot of fun.

I think that’s something missing in whiskey. The category tends to be very uptight, stuck in the past and tradition. We’ve tried to break away from all of that with Bright Side. That’s what the brand embodies.

Reshma: I know you’re from Delhi, you’ve launched in Mumbai, and I know how much you love Goa. What’s the best time and place to have a whiskey? Is it Dilli Sardi, a Goa sunset or the Mumbai monsoon?

Udit Mediratta: They’re all great choices, but I wouldn’t want to be greedy! I’d go with Dilli Sardi.

A whiskey on a terrace in Delhi during winter. Nothing beats that!

Reshma: And lastly, boardroom or barroom? What’s your favourite place these days?

Udit Mediratta: I’m definitely spending a lot of time in bars!

There’s so much energy in a bar, even when you’re not drinking. They’re great melting pots, and I have wonderful memories of the time I’ve spent in bars.

I think bars are the original third places. Starbucks talks about being the third place, but historically, that place was the bar. It was never really a coffee shop. Starbucks has taken that idea from bars, but bars were the original third places.

Reshma: Lovely! Thank you. This brings us to the end of our conversation. Thank you for being here.

Focus, dream big or dream small. It takes the same amount of effort. You’ve left us with that wonderful thought.

Thank you, and all the best for Bright Side!

Udit Mediratta: Thank you. Thank you so much, Reshma.

Beverages

Inside India’s Next Big Whiskey Opportunity with Udit Mediratta

1. The Indian Whiskey Landscape & Demographics

2. Whiskey Segmentation & Price Brackets

3. Younger Drinking Preferences & Consumption Occasions

4. Per Capita Consumption & Taxation Policies

5. Global Experience at AB InBev & Brand Localisation

6. Leaving Corporate Life to Build Marmalade & Bright Side

7. The Playbook: White Space, Kotler's 4 Ps & Bright Side Strategy

8. Product Development: Liquid Creation, Blend & Smoothness

9. Contract Manufacturing, Supply Chains & Packaging Options

10. Label Regulations & Registration Complexity

11. Route-to-Market Models & Channel Strategy

12. Marketing in a Dark Market & Community Building

13. Fundraising, Investors & Early Validation

14. Exit Horizons & M&A Opportunities

15. Rapid-Fire Questions

Contents