Alternative agave: emerging brands, regions & trends
How does a newer category – like Indian agave spirits – navigate expansion as a lesser-known entity? The founder of Maya Pistola Agavepura shares his insights.
“In today’s landscape, it is really challenging to get new distributors because overall you see that there’s a downward spiral for alcohol in general,” explained Rakshay Dhariwal, founder and managing director of Indian agave spirits brand Maya Pistola Agavepura.
“But as long as you’re committed to growing the market for the distributors, you’re committed to either contributing marketing money or contributing on-the-ground sales teams, or committed to helping them further their business, you have to think of distributors as your logistics partners. And as long as you’re ready to throw in that bit of marketing, then I think distributors will want to take you on.
“That’s where having a product that’s unique is important. For us, we get a lot of enquiries because of the uniqueness of our product.”
Dhariwal was speaking during a panel session at The Spirits Business Hub at ProWein 2026, called ‘Alternative agave: emerging brands, regions & trends’.
India has an abundance of agave, Dhariwal noted, which has been growing in the country for more than 200 years. He explained that during the reign of Queen Victoria when railroads were being built in India, to keep cows from walking on the tracks or being hit by trains, agave was grown to deter the animals as a natural (and cheaper) fencing option.
As a newer spirits category, Dhariwal emphasised the importance of storytelling to growing both the category and brand.
He said: “Storytelling is the most important thing. It’s also the most expensive thing, and in this game, the alcobev game, it’s how much money are you willing to sink in for results at the end of the day?
“You have to find that balance where you’re sinking in enough money in marketing to really propagate your sales enough so that you’re still cash-flow positive.
“The last thing you want is for big brands to come and consolidate, and eat you alive, right, because you’re the ones that have set up this entire culture and then a big brand comes in and Pistola [for example] will start getting produced wherever.”
The full presentation and conversation with Dhariwal is now available to view via the link below and on The Spirits Business’ YouTube channel.
Viewers can also watch a deep dive into the inaugural findings from the 2026 ProSpirits Report, and a conversation about what it really takes to successfully establish a celebrity spirits brand.
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