India’s Broken Bat Gin takes home the Best Gin In Asia award at The Gin Guide Awards 2023

Jul 05, 2023

In India, there has been a significant shift in consumer tastes and preferences, leading to a growing interest in gin. Several local distilleries have emerged, producing high-quality artisanal gins that showcase the country's botanicals and flavours. These craft gins have gained recognition and have been successful in capturing the attention of discerning consumers. Coming from the homegrown gin brand, Greater Than and distillery, Nao Spirits, Broken Bat Gin has won the prestigious ‘Best Gin in Asia’ award at The Gin Guide Awards 2023. It was also named a winner in the Aged Gin Category globally.

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Commenting on the win, Anand Virmani, Co-founder, CEO, and Distiller at Nao Spirits & Beverages says that they always push themselves at the distillery to create gins. By creating an aged gin, they were taking a massive risk by ditching the usual oak barrels. Instead. they opted for Kashmir Willow which had never previously been used to age any spirit.

As part of the competition, a varied team of judges from various worldwide locations evaluated hundreds of gins from over 35 different nations. Winning such a prestigious prize is unquestionably proof of the spirit's exceptional quality, but more significantly, it shows the rising acceptance of creative Indian artisan spirits.

A first of its kind, this unique gin was launched in India and Australia in November 2022. The limited edition is currently available in 3 Indian states – Goa, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.

Also Read: 10 Offbeat Gins In India To Try & Ultimately Add To Your Home Bar!

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This variant of gin has quite a special ingredient — cricket bats! The distillers at Nao Spirits were inspired by their love of cricket to give this gin an Indian touch by using the famous Kashmir Willow cricket bats.

The bats were cleaned, carefully stripped of their handles, and then the remaining bat was chopped into wood chips. These chips were then roasted and submerged for two months in Greater Than's Classic London Dry gin, producing a unique experience in terms of colour, scents, and flavour.

Greater Than's classic London dry, brewed with lemon peel, fennel, juniper, and ginger, serves as the foundation for Broken Bat Gin, which is then matured with bats for six weeks.

On its Facebook page, they have had asked for used, damaged, and chipped cricket bats. The company said that the bats were required for a unique, up-cycled fence at the distillery and promised to give people a bottle of its upcoming limited-edition gin in exchange for a cricket bat.

The gin has freshly toasted wood flavours followed by almost-ripe mangoes and sweet juniper spice. Moreover, rather than tonic, this gin tastes best when enjoyed with ice or topped up with soda or cola.

Have you tried Broken Bat Gin yet?

Cover image credits: Instagram/Greater Than Gin