Top 10 best-selling Indian whisky brands

Indian whisky sales stayed strong in 2014, emphasising the sector’s standing as one of the most resilient spirit categories around.

Outside of India, preconceptions of the nation’s ability to provide spirits of a high standard have vastly improved

As one of the most popular spirit segments in the world, Indian whisky once again made its mark in our Brand Champions report this year, boasting some of the highest volume growth figures across the entire industry.

For the second year in a row the most popular Indian whisky brand on this list smashed Diageo’s Johnnie Walker out of the park, and scored another home run as the world’s best-selling whisky across all sub-categories.

In addition, premiumisation in the category has continued to provoke innovation in the market, while outside of India preconceptions of the nation’s ability to provide spirits of a high standard have vastly improved.

Since the Indian whisky category has long come under fire from critics who claim that many brands do not adhere to official “whisky” definitions, this year The Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), India’s food safety regulating body, is preparing a “draft notification” on the legal standards of alcoholic beverages such as whisky, vodka, and gin, which manufacturers will have to meet.

Following the results of Brand Champions 2015 – our pick of those brands selling over one million cases annually that are boasting exceptional success within their categories – we run through the world’s best-selling Indian whisky brands available on the market today.

Click through the following pages to discover the top 10 best-selling Indian whisky brands, listed in order of their nine-litre case sales.

10. 8PM

2014: 4.3
2013: 4.8
% change: -10
Place last year: 9

This year’s stats revealed another decline for 8PM – its second decline in as many years into 10th position. The Radico Khaitan-owned brand saw a 2% drop in the 2013 calendar year, a fall that plummeted by a further 10% to 4.3 million cases. It’s certainly a change of pace for the brand that shifted more than a million cases in its first year (1999) – unheard of by any other foreign or domestic brand in India.

9. Blenders Pride

2014: 4.8

2013: 4.2

% change: 15

Place last year: 10

There was a slow down in sales of Blenders Pride in 2013, but that all changed in 2014. The Pernod Ricard-owned Indian whisky is up one spot from last year having grown its volumes by an impressive 15% from 4.2 to 4.8 million cases – that’s three times the 5% growth it experienced in 2013. Reports suggest Blenders Pride owns approximately 50% of the premium blended whisky sector in India.     

8. Bagpiper

2014: 9.5

2013: 11.6

% change: -18

Place last year: 4

Once hailed as United Spirits’ “legendary flagship brand”, Bagpiper has suffered year-on-year declines in its volumes, which in the last few years in particular have become steeper and steeper. In 2014, the brand’s volume fell by 18% to 9.5 million cases, and for the second year running Bagpiper has experienced the most significant drop out of any whisky on this list. 

7. Hayward’s Fine

2014: 10.4

2013: 9.2

% change: 14

Place last year: 8

Despite the brand’s growth pace slowing by more than half, United Spirits-owned Hayward’s Fine has experienced another phenomenal year, allowing it to climb ever higher up the best-selling ladder to seventh place. The brand surged in sales by more than one million cases in a year, a rise of 14% – one of the highest percentage jumps seen across this entire list. We can’t wait to see what the next year holds for this brand.

6. Original Choice

2014: 10.5

2013: 10.0

% change: 5

Place last year: 7

A 5% increase boosted John Distilleries’ Original Choice up one place in the best-selling Indian whisky list, signalling the potential end of what has been a tumultuous few years for the brand. In 2013, Original Choice lost its sixth place crown, and dropped to seventh after volume sales decreased by 8%. However, 2014 was a more promising year for the whisky, and now, dare we say it, it seems the gap between sixth and fifth place are beginning to close too…

5. Old Tavern

2014: 11.2

2013: 11.5

% change: -3

Place last year: 5

Sales of Old Tavern experienced a small decline in 2014 of 3%. Despite this, the United Spirits-owned brand still reported volumes of 11.2m, allowing it to retain its fifth position in the list of the world’s best-selling Indian whisky brands for the third consecutive year. A commendable feat – that is, until you see the impressive growth of our fourth place competitor.

4. Imperial Blue

2014: 14.1

2013: 10.9

% change: 29

Place last year: 6

Imperial Blue has continued on a pattern of constant growth, rising by a whopping 29% to earn fourth place among the best-selling Indian whiskies. A record year for the brand, this is the highest percentage of growth reported to date for the whisky since it was first launched in 1997 – meaning it also secured the number 10 spot in the top 100 spirits brands by volume.

3. Royal Stag

2014: 16.1
2013: 14.8
% change: 9
Place last year: 3

Royal Stag has asserted its position as the third best-selling Indian whisky brand this year, building on last year’s growth of 6% with an impressive increase this year of 9%. The brand’s slogan is “it’s your life, make it large” – and considering that it’s the most popular of Pernod Ricard’s Indian whiskies – and the group’s biggest spirit by volume – Royal Stag seems to practice what it preaches.

2. McDowell’s No.1

2014: 25.1
2013: 23.7
% change: 6
Place last year: 2

For years, McDowell’s has jostled against Officer’s Choice for the top spot in the Indian whisky market, but despite adding 1.6 million cases to its volumes in 2014 the brand has lost out on first place again this year, and by quite a way. Last year the two brands were just 120,000 cases apart, but the gap has now widened to 330,000 and looks set to continue. 

1. Officer’s Choice

2014: 28.4
2013: 23.8
% change: 19
Place last year: 1
For a brand selling more than 20 million cases annually to deliver double-digit growth is meritorious in itself, but to achieve that consistently three years in a row is astounding. So it’s no surprise that Officer’s Choice bumped Smirnoff Vodka off the top of the biggest-selling spirits chart this year. The Allied Blenders-owned brand grew by 19% to 28.4m cases – a figure leaps and bounds ahead of the category’s 6% overall growth for the year. Certainly its super-premium expression, Officer’s Choice Black, would’ve contributed to the five million cases it gained in global volume, but the brand has also claimed its “inspiring” viral anthem gave it an edge too.