Indian brand Nao Spirits, the makers of Greater Than and Hapusa gin, acquired by Diageo

Homegrown spirit brand Nao Spirits are the makers of Indian craft gins such as Greater Than and Hapusa. Launched in 2017 by Anand Virmani, Aparajita Ninan and Vaibhav Singh, and later joined by Abhinav Rajput, the brand led the way for the craft gin revolution in the country. Nao was recently acquired by Diageo India (United Spirits Limited), in a ₹130 crore deal.

Greater Than was India’s first London Dry gin
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Nao takes its name from the word for ‘boat’ in Portuguese and Indian languages. “When we began, the gin market was non-existent in India. Back in 2016, we were running Perch Wine and Coffee Bar (New Delhi), and one of the things which took us by surprise was the number people coming in requesting for a gin and tonic. That insight led us to look behind the bar and ask a simple question: do we have a quality Indian gin to serve? The answer, at the time, was no,” says Anand. The distillery in Goa launched Greater Than, India’s first London Dry gin made with botanicals in 2017. 2018 saw the launch of Hapusa, a Himalayan Dry Gin aimed at the premium sipping gin market.

Over the years, the brand has released many special edition bottles, and spirits using ingredients such as Kashmir willow wood from broken cricket bats and Mahabaleshwar strawberries. Today the gin market in India has grown exponentially. It has gone from 12,000-case number to 5,00,000 cases in the last calendar year, and that number is just going up.

Speaking of the acquisition and the new chapter of the brand, Anand explains, “Our DNA remains unchanged. We will continue to be the pathbreakers, building a brave company from modern India that’s redefining quality spirits, one label at a time. We will still be powered by the same people, the same purpose, and the same belief that has shaped Nao Spirits.”

The brand does not have any new launches lined up for the near future under the Diageo umbrella. Anand says it is business as usual as they gear up for the Foragers Championship, a cross-continental cocktail competition and the latest edition of Greater Than Bar Wars in India

“We have always looked at acquisitions in India being for large companies, such as Diageo with United Spirits and the like. For us as an independent craft spirits company to have the opportunity to experience this, is totally out of the realm of imagination. We are very excited about what this partnership is possibly going to bring to us. And at the same time, we are very keen to hold on to the little bits that that have made this journey so special for us so far,” he concludes.