Ice, spice and everything nice: Gin Explorers Club Delhi Edition

The sun sets over Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the air is filled with the sweet aroma of juniper berries and the sound of glasses clinking in anticipation. This is the Gin Explorers Club—a place where gin makers showcase their latest creations and enthusiasts come to indulge in the finest spirits. It's a world of botanicals, blends, and cocktails, where every sip tells a story and every pour is an adventure.

Despite Scotch being the most popular imported liquor among Indians, gin is taking over as the drink of choice for younger generations, with its versatility and unique flavour profiles attracting a new wave of drinkers.

When Anjali Batra, Co-founder of Gin Explorer’s Club, formulated the first installment of the event in 2018 in Delhi, did not expect the massive footfall it would receive. What started as a simple bar takeover, has mutated into a two day celebration of the juniper-based liquor.

“I want to make India fall in love with Gin,” she tells YS Life.

This year, the Delhi edition of the event included hip-hop, indie-pop, and techno performances by Ashna Malik, The Copycats, and Echonomist, among others. But the main attraction remained the cocktail pop-up stations, set up by local and international brands.

But when it came to sheer statistics, Indian brands outnumbered Internationals. A quick poll suggested the popular shop at the event was Jaisalmer Gin, a Rajasthan based spirits manufacturer, serving tasteful concoctions made out of elderflower, orange peel and charred rosemary, from a black and gold kiosk.

Mixers comprise a significant portion of a tippler’s glass, and this was the case for the event as well. From legacy brands like Schweppes, to home grown brands like Jade Forest, every seltzer and tonic brand, looking for a place in the more health conscious booze enjoyer’s shopping cart had set up a stall.

One drink that was hard to miss was the Truffle Oil Gin and Tonic at the Tanqueray booth, which got mixed reactions from the crowd. While some people loved the savoury flavours in a liquid form, others thought it was a bit too much.

But the tipsy tales don't end here. Apart from the liquid attractions, the visitors also got a chance to taste the finest accompaniments one could imagine with a glass of cocktails–carbohydrates and fats in the form of chilli hotdogs and vegan pizzas to tenderloin burgers.

One of the reasons, the promoter’s decided to organise a weekend-long fiesta for gin aficionados, was the growing number of picky drinkers who wanted to replace the decades old vodka and soda with a more flavourful spirit.

For decades, gin had an image of the old white man’s drink, mixed with a malaria preventing tonic. All the brands, aided by Goa's favourable liquor manufacturing policies, present at the GEC certainly tried their best to establish themselves as the go to choice of spirit of a younger generation looking for a unique and pocket friendly drink to sip away.