Cheers from Northeast: This alcobev brand is spotlighting the region with blended scotch whiskey

The alcobev industry in the Northeast is bubbling with innovation. The region has a long-preserved history of crafting local beers and wine, with each tribe adding their own variations to fermented rice wines and beers.

Of late, a number of craft liquors have emerged from the Seven Sister States, such as Cherrapunji Gin, which now has amassed a cult following, and Naara Aaba Wine from Arunachal Pradesh, celebrating the local wild kiwi. The region is gradually yet promisingly growing its share in the $55-billion industry, according to the Indian Spirit and Wines Association.

Radiant Manufacturers too is creating a space for itself operating from the Karbi Anglong district in Assam, a place that doesn’t often feature on the maps of whiskey aficionados. The company maybe 30 years old, but its team says it’s just heading out into the world of innovative spirits, toying with the products a little here and there, like a curious child eager to learn.

The alcobev company, which boasts of products including a selection of wines, coffee rum, gins, and India’s only 100% corn whiskey, recently unveiled Infamous Rebel Whiskey, a double blend, double barrel blended scotch that has the potential to put Radiant Manufacturers on the national map.

Infamous Rebel combines pot-distilled Indian single malt sourced from Jammu, grain Scotch obtained from the Scottish Highlands, and corn spirit from Assam to create a full-bodied whiskey that rests its sweetness on the palate. It is matured at Radiant Manufacturer’s distillery in Khatkhati, Assam—barely a few kilometres away from the Nagaland border—through a double cask maturation technique. Made in 3-year, 5-year, and 7-year variants, it’s first matured in ex-bourbon casks from Jack Daniels Old No. 7 and then in an Olorose sherry cask, leaving it with fruity undertones and a nutty aroma.

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A Northeastern blend

Radiant’s story started in Nagaland in 1969 when Dani Chand opened a liquor retail shop in its capital, Kohima. He had just started to make a foothold in the wholesale liquor trade when Nagaland imposed prohibition, forcing the Chand family to explore their ambitions in Assam. Radiant Manufacturers was incorporated in 1995, and got into the business of bottling for Indian-made Foreign Liquors (IMFL), however, the quality of spirits was always an issue.

In 2001, the company decided to establish its distillery in Khatkhati, Assam. The plant today spans eight acres, and operates on its own coal and husk power plant.

Beyond White Magic gin, Vinho Porto wines, and Lost Treasure coffee rum, the company got its first taste of distinction with Castle Hill Dark Knight whiskey, introduced in 2013. The whiskey is the only one of its kind in India—made entirely from corn—and among only a handful around the world.

It is made with waters of the Dhansari river, a tributary of the Brahmaputra, that gives the distillery a home advantage but is also difficult to tame. The plant has sedimentation and treatment sections to clean the muddy river waters. The whiskey is then matured in New American Oak casks and processed through a bamboo charcoal filtration that gives it a hint of smokiness. It is only matured in batches of two years and four years, not more.

“In India, they say 7-8 years is the maximum you can mature a whiskey, but if you over-mature it the whiskey starts going bad, because of the tropical climate. One year in India is equivalent to three years in Scotland,” says Jeevan Chand, the master distiller behind the Infamous whiskey. He was also under the tutelage of Master Blender John McDougall, who crafted Dark Knight’s blend and is the master distiller behind iconic scotch whiskeys like Laphroaig, Balvenie, and Springbank.

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The whiskey is only made in small batches of 700-1,000 as the manufacturer wants to perfect the blend before producing en masse.

“You have to look at our limitations also, we can’t afford to do very large batches. You’re selling three years down the line. After the first cask, you need to have backup. We’ll scale it up once we’re comfortable with the final product,” explains Vicky Chand, Director and CEO of Radiant Manufacturers.

Dark Knight won a bronze medal at the London Spirits Competition in 2023. It was also awarded a Gold Quality Award from Monde Selection in 2024.

But crafting an award-winning whiskey is not easy. The CEO says that maintaining consistency is extremely difficult as each cask is different. Moreover, moving the product is a different ballgame altogether.

“Sale is the biggest challenge. Ultimately, getting the consumer to think that this whiskey is good and get their hands on it and repeatedly try it over a period of time is difficult,” Vicky explains.

The brand is currently focused on conquering the Assam market, which in itself is significantly big. According to National Family Health Survey-5 data, 7.3% of women and 26.5% of men consume liquor in the state. The immediate goal is to cover the entire Northeast market.

The complex web of state liquor laws and labelling rigamarole has prevented Radiant Manufactures from expanding outright, but that’s where Infamous Rebel comes in. The name is inspired by the Northeast’s history of insurgency, and it will also follow it up with Renegade and Rogue editions.

“Once we get into single-cask bottling, it gets a little easier because you’re doing one cask at a time, or doing cask strengths, which are much more premium. That market doesn’t exist at the moment because the laws are such,” laments Vicky.

Entering the mainstream market is no easy feat, and Radiant knows it. Till now, it has been fetching malt from outside but going ahead it wants to produce its own malts, premiumise its gin, and open an experience centre at the Khatkhati distillery.

“We’re willing to learn and experiment. We don’t like following the herd,” Vicky proclaims.