Amrut’s gin comes with a bouquet of 10 botanicals

Amrut Distilleries draws inspiration from the Ooty Botanical Garden to craft a gin with South Indian botanicals, from tea to betel leaves

The story of this Indian gin begins in the Nilgiris, five years ago. The late chairman and managing director Neelakanta Rao Jagdale of Bengaluru-based Amrut Distilleries was holidaying at his summer home in Udhagamandalam when he thought of creating a distilled gin using botanicals and spices from South India.

After a visit to the Government Medicinal Plant Development Area at Doddabetta, the highest mountain range in the South, he learnt about the medicinal plants used to manufacture therapeutic oils. “He made multiple trips to the Nilgiris, especially to the Ooty Botanical Garden,” recalls Nikhil Varma, gin distiller and brand ambassador for Amrut.