Back in the year 2000, Sahil Jatana was 18 when he was introduced to alcohol by his Army dad. Jatana's initiation into drinking started with the classic tipple gin and tonic, and 18 years since that first dram he still remembers how the tonic water was a sugary, carbonated concoction even though the combo's sweet bitterish strain left an everlasting love for the esteemed G&T. Little did he know that this fondness would lead him to co-found a company which makes tonic water with half the sugar content of commercial tonic waters. But here is Jatana at Delhi's Fig & Maple—a cosy little restobar in Delhi serving an extensive range of infused gin—offering a highball of cucumber flavoured tonic water as a standalone drink from the house of Svami, India's first craft mixer company. As he serves a beetroot, granny smith and citrus infused gin with one of Svami's tonic water, he tells THE WEEK how his company—launched in February this year—recognised the need for serving quality tonic water in the mixers space in India and is ready to capture the ongoing gin revival scene. "Every tonic water in the world says Indian tonic water, including Schweppes. But there is no Indian tonic water from India. Can you believe it?" asks Jatana which is when it hits home.
British soldiers in India copiously consumed quinine powder to treat malaria that was rampant in tropical countries in the 19th century. Produced from the cinchona tree bark, the medicinal quinine was extremely bitter; to offset this sharpness, the officers mixed it up with soda and sugar. This was the birth of tonic water before some inventive Englishman decided to combine it with gin. Interestingly, it was in 1858 that tonic water was first marketed commercially by a London-based businessman Erasmus Bond. Schweppes, the Swiss beverage company, came into the picture only in 1870. So after 150 years, Jatana says, India has finally reclaimed the drink in the land of its birth. "We wanted this to be an Indian brand coming from India for a product that originated in India. And we want the world to know that," says Jatana who is the CEO of Svami which he co-founded it two other friends Aneesh Bhasin and Rahul Mehra.
Jatana says Svami is now pouring in 60 bars in Mumbai and retailing at 30 outlets in the city. They have reached Delhi and Bengaluru as well, with Rajasthan and Chennai on the anvil, and plans to become mass-market in India in addition to exporting Svami products in global cities. "We have already done a bar expo in Hong Kong and have three bar expos lined up in 2019 in London, Shanghai and Berlin," says Jatana who insists Svami tonic water regular can go with any gin or vodka, even cold brew coffee. Apart from the regular, the tonic water has two more expressions, grapefruit and cucumber, with the former paring perfectly with cognac and tequila as well. The company is now in the process of preparing a Gin Cheatsheet of sorts, an infographic educating drinkers on pairings and garnishes without veering into outrageous experiments. When Jatana suggests mixing a spot of Monkey 47 with Svami grapefruit tonic water, the bartender stares back, a touch surprised. "See, this is what we have to fight against," says Jatana who is looking for brand ambassadors who can play Svami mixers with spirits in a non-invasive way, and go around bars creating experiences as Svami bartenders.
But why the name Svami? "We wanted a single word. We wanted a name that is easy to say and cannot be mispronounced by service staff, and of course we wanted a very Indian sounding name," says Jatana who thinks the brightest gin scene right now is in London where a week-long trip won't be enough to see the kind of crazy things being done with the spirit beyond Bombay Sapphire double. While globally popular tonic waters like Fever Tree and East Imperial are yet to hit the Indian market, Svami may have competition from imported brands like 1724, Mixtale and the grand-daddy Schweppes which now has "low-cal" Slimline variant. There's another homegrown brand called Bengal Bay which will be more visible in the premium mixers space. Svami is currently producing 24,000 bottles of mixers every month at their Mumbai-based bottling plant which is running at peak capacity. The ingredients for the tonic water are sourced from the around the world: the Indian cucumber goes to Germany to come back as water soluble infusion, grapefruit from the US, lime from India and quinine from Congo.
But Jatana insists they do not want to be known as a tonic water company. They are making premium soda and ginger ales. "Ginger ale is a great mixer for whiskeys like Jameson and Johnnie Walker Red Label. That's a trend that will soon come to India and I want to be ready when it hits the market," says Jatana. "I want every one to have a svami ginger ale and not giner sherbet or whatever that is available in the market, " says Jatana whose company also owns the trademark for "zero-proof cocktails" in India. Their Zero-proof will be non-alcoholic beverages with mature infusions like agave, elderflower, mulled fennel and other seasonal variations mixed with Svami tonic water. "Just don't call it mocktails," he pleads.
Svami tonic water regular is available for Rs 80 for 200ml and Rs85 for flavoured.
