Indian craft gin, ‘Stranger & Sons’, has struck Gold at the International Wines and Spirits Competition, 2020, with a near-perfect score of 98/100. A relative newcomer, the gin (42.8% ABV) displaced hundreds of contenders to be recognised as an ‘Outstanding’ spirit in the ‘Contemporary Distilled Dry Gin’ category.

Says Sakshi Saigal, co-Founder of Third Eye Distillery, the gin maker, “What makes it really special is that this the first time we participated. I’m also happy that this global recognition finally puts spirits from India on the world map!”

The IWSC judging panel noted gin’s “unstoppable growth over the past 5 years of the darling of the bar” and said this year more than 800 variants were broken down into two main categories: London Dry and Contemporary.

In contemporary gins, juniper is allowed to be “a little more diffident – still present and leading, yet as more of a committee with other flavours, some of which are much more esoteric than might be found in your ordinary London Dry”.

Other Indian spirits that bagged Bronze in their respective categories were ‘Greater Than’ London Dry gin from Nao Spirits and Beverages; Antiquity Blue Ultra-Premium Whisky from United Spirits; Indian Single Malt Whisky and Raj I Gala Indian Single Malt whisky, both from Amrut Distilleries; and two offerings from Paul John Distilleries, the Paul John Nirvana Unpeated Indian Single Malt and the Oloroso Select Cask Indian Single Malt.