ABD eyes premium Indian whisky launch

India’s Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD), producer of the world’s best-selling whisky Officer’s Choice, is hoping to launch its first premium whisky later this year.

Allied Blenders & Distillers has revealed plans to launch a brand new premium Indian whisky, which would join its standard Officer’s Choice brand

In a bid to capitalise on the growing premiumisation trend in sub-continent, ABD told The Economic Times that it plans to release a premium Indian whisky by December this year.

“The proposed product will have an entirely new brand name and brand positioning,” Deepak Roy told the publication.

“We are done with the OC (Officer’s Choice) brand extension and the new brand will really be a premium as we already have a semi-premium whisky in Officer’s Choice Black.”

Roy said that this move would help fill a gap in the group’s portfolio since its already has a premium brandy, Kyron, as well as the “semi-premium” Indian whisky, OC Black.

“This is a calculated move as the industry has been on a premiumisation drive for some time now,” he added.

“Moreover, the margin is much high in this segment and this will complement our existing bouquet of brands.”

ABD achieved record sales figures for its flagship Officer’s Choice brand last year, selling 23.8 million nine-litre cases, an increase of 31% on 2012.

This massive growth lead to the brand being crowned The Spirits Business’ Supreme Brand Champion for 2014.