Diageo India: ‘Craft spirits are defined less by scale and more by intent’
Diageo India’s new craft spirits centre caters to the the rising number of Indian consumers looking for products “made here at home”, according to the company’s chief innovation officer. Eloise Feilden finds out more.
Diageo India announced last week that it had officially broken ground on The Good Craft Co. Flavour Market, its new site dedicated to Indian-made craft spirits.
The site, complete with a distillery, nanobrewery, innovation lab, startup incubator, retail hub and craft experience centre, is Diageo’s answer to rising demand among Indian consumers for products made domestically.
“There’s a growing demographic of Indians who are seeking out high-quality spirits made here at home. For a long time, premium choices were associated with imports, but now local producers are creating spirits that stand up to international benchmarks while bringing something distinctively Indian to the table,” Vikram Damodaran, chief innovation officer at Diageo India, told db.
Damodaran said the shift is taking place across multiple demographics. “What’s interesting is how wide the consumer base has become. It’s not just younger, urban audiences — although they are certainly adventurous and open to discovery. We have also seen older consumers, who grew up favouring international labels, begin to explore and genuinely appreciate Indian craft,” he said.
For both groups, he argued that “pride” in locally-made products is the driver of the trend. “curiosity about new possibilities” is also driving the shift.
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The rise of Indian consumers looking for craft spirits is reflective of a global trend, and a number of global players have tapped into this demand. However, there continues to be debate surrounding the term ‘craft’.
The American Distilling Institute, for example, defines craft spirits as those which are “products of an independently owned distillery where the product is fermented, distilled and bottled on-site”.
Damodaran said that “for us, craft spirits are defined less by scale and more by intent”.
He said: “A craft spirit is one where choices around ingredients, methods, and maturation are made with care, where the aim is to create something distinctive rather than standardised. Craft also carries provenance. It reflects the region, the traditions, and the people behind it, while still leaving space for innovation and experimentation. And most importantly, craft is transparent: consumers know who makes it, how it’s made, and the story it carries.”
The Flavour Market, located in Ponda, Goa, will be the second site dedicated to Diageo India’s The Good Craft Co. (TGCC) platform, after its Flavour Lab in Bangalore opened last year. The Goa site is set to open in 2026.
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