Saturday, August 6, 2011

Desmondji - An Indian Tequila.

The man
Tequila is now made in India. Yes, you heard it right. The signature drink of Mexico made from the famous blue agave plant is now produced just 150 kms.off Bangalore. The brain child behind the spirit is Desmond Nazareth, an IIT engineer who returned to India after a Y2K crash in US. Back home,he found it difficult to replicate his perfect margaritas here as the imported tequila was too expensive.


His mission

He set out to make his own tequila. Desmond did extensive research in spirits, distillation and topography. He concluded that he could grow agave plant (raw material for tequila) in Deccan plateau. Desmond selected an area in Chittor district of AP and planted agave in 44 acres of land. The tougher part however must have been to recourse finance and getting clearance and licence for his micro-distillery. Thankfully he could cut across the redtape and open India's first micro- distillery.

The product
Desmond named the company 'Agave India'and it is the first alco-bev company in India to make high-quality Margarita blends, Agave Spirits and Orange Liqueurs using original production methods such as harvesting, baking of agave 'pinas', fermentation, double distillation, ageing etc. This method is in accordance with the international spirit production standards, unlike most spirit producers in India, who simply add flavour to ENA (extra neutral alcohol).

Agave India is also the only company in the world to produce 'Tequila' outside of Mexico. However according to international law a product can be termed 'Tequla' only if it is made in Mexico. Hence the company calls its products - Desmondji 100% agave and Desmondji 51% agave. The product is only available in Goa right now and is priced at Rs. 495 per bottle (750ml). The company has plans to launch it in Bangalore, Mumbai and Pune by the end of this year.


Chaterbox salutes Jesmondiji's spirit !!!!








3 comments:

DesNaz said...

Thanks for noticing and for the blog entry, Sandeep!

We should be launching in Mumbai/Pune/Bangalore this year (we were let down by the distributor who was going to do this last year!)Also, the 44 acre plot houses our micro-distillery :-)

Please visit our freshly updated website (www.desmondji.com) for an FAQ and a photo essay, among several new features :-)

And if you are on FB, please 'like' our FB page (https://www.facebook.com/DesmondJi) to follow our guerrilla PR campaigns in the months ahead...

Continue to spread the good word since we depend on WoM :-)

Cheers!

Unknown said...

Superji kalakkunga

Dr Jag mohan Tandon said...

Very good. But where can I buy your products in Delhi.
Congratulations
By the way you could try to grow Blue Agave in Aravalli Hills in Rajasthan
Must have been thought by you.
Jag
Dr Jag Mohan Tandon