If one were to take a shot every time the Patiala peg showed up in pop culture, the buzz would last a while. Generous to a fault, the drink has come to signify not just a measure of alcohol, but also an attitude of excess, indulgence and camaraderie. At popular restobar Social, the idea gets a playful spin: a generous amount of rum or vodka meets sugarcane juice and chaat masala in its viral ‘Banarasi Patiala’—two small-town Indias distilled into a single glass. “Ek se zyada abhi nahi, do se zyada kabhi nahi (More than one, not now. More than two, never),” its tagline playfully warns.
For long, India’s cocktail culture has been associated with its metros, their bars setting the tone for what and how India drinks. Meanwhile, in its smaller cities and towns ran a parallel, deeply rooted drinking culture: mahua in central India, feni in Goa, chhang in the Himalayas and toddy along the southern coast. And then there are the country liquor staples like santara and narangi. Interestingly, once confined to theka (liquor store) counters, they have, like their more extravagant counterpart—the Patiala peg—entered the pop culture lexicon, and are now finding their way into urban bars, but with a modern twist. At the same time, bartenders are turning to hyperlocal ingredients: Gondhoraj lime, Himalayan honey, kapur kachri.... Increasingly, India’s cocktail imagination is looking beyond the metros and drawing from smaller cities, towns and regional influences.
The exchange is not one-sided. Across tier 2 and tier 3 cities, a new crop of bars is experimenting with equal confidence. And they aren’t shying away from going beyond the classics, but infusing local influences and global inspirations, changing the cocktail landscape of India, one shot at a time.
Beyond the metros
Born and brought up in Bhopal, bartending was not a conventional career choice for Karan Dhanelia, head mixologist at Atelier V, Indore.
“I come from a business family, and they were not very supportive of me working in the kitchen, let alone at a bar. I faced a lot of criticism,” Dhanelia told THE WEEK. “But in the end, I have proved myself.” He was crowned ‘Bartender of the Year’ at the 12th edition of the Diageo India World Class Finals last month.
One of the drinks he presented at the competition, made with Singleton 12, was a tribute to Scotland “for creating such an outstanding liquid”. He picked Cranachan, a classic Scottish dessert consisting of “very simple ingredients that come together in perfect balance—fresh raspberries, toasted oats, cream, honey and whiskey”. He then deconstructed and reconstructed it into a Boulevardier—a bittersweet aperitif infused with toasted oats and raspberries, and cream-washed sweet vermouth. “At the centre of it all was the Singleton 12-year-old,” he said. “Not hidden, not overpowered, but elevated.”
His bar in Indore, a city better known for its food than its drinking culture, was inspired by the idea of passports, its menu featuring 12 cocktails, each based on a different country and named after how “cheers” is said in the local language. Eviva, for instance, draws from Greece: extra virgin olive oil and fat-washed gin with orange blossom water and orange saccharum, stirred and finished with a vanilla cheesecake foam—a dessert-style, spirit-forward drink.
Popular on the menu is Geonbae, made with black garlic–infused gin and yuzu soda. “It’s a very non-conventional drink, not for every palate, but if you develop a taste for it, you’ll really enjoy it,” Dhanelia said. “Out of 10 people who order it, about six keep coming back. It is a very interesting drink—umami, slightly sour, and served as a highball.” He emphasised people’s openness to experimentation. “Indore does not get many tourists, so most of this shift is driven by locals,” he said. Dhanelia began his career at Paro in Jaipur, a city that too is building its cocktail culture with bars like Native Cocktail Room and Miroh.
A similar shift is visible in Pune. When Vijeta Singh, Karan Khilnani and Mayur Marne opened Cobbler & Crew in 2022, “the assumption was that a city like Pune may not immediately respond to a serious cocktail programme,” said Singh. “What we found instead was not lack of interest, but lack of exposure.”
That, she added, has changed over time. “Earlier, guests would go for the familiar, asking for known classics or spirit-forward drinks they had encountered elsewhere,” she said. “Today, there is far more openness. Guests are willing to engage with ingredients, ask questions, and trust the bar to lead them somewhere new.” Cobbler & Crew was ranked among the top bars in the country by 30BestBarsIndia in 2025.
“The steady evolution of tier 2 and tier 3 cities over the past few years has been a marked feature of India’s beverage landscape,” said Vikram Achanta, founder and CEO of Tulleeho (a drinks education and consulting firm) and co-founder of 30BestBarsIndia and India Bartender Show. “Access has improved. Bartenders today are more exposed to global standards, and that knowledge is no longer limited to metros. At the same time, a big part of it is a leap of faith by entrepreneurs to bring a taste of what consumers in Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru already enjoy into newer markets.”
For Vedant Newatia, founder and head chef at Indore’s Atelier V, the bar was always integral and not something secondary to the food. “At the time, Indore did not have a place where cocktails were treated with the same level of care as the kitchen,” he said. “I saw an opportunity to create something more intentional.” The response has been encouraging. “Customers here are genuinely curious,” he said. “They want to explore craft cocktails, try new flavours and engage with the experience of a well-made drink.”
A new cocktail map
Many tier 2 cities like Pune, Indore, Jaipur and Chandigarh are now making a mark on India’s cocktail map. In Amritsar, The Bagh has built a strong cocktail programme, while Shillong is home to Shad Skye. Guwahati, too, is steadily experimenting and expanding its bar culture.
“Chandigarh continues to evolve from a strong drinking culture into something more refined and cocktail-led,” said Achanta. “In the northeast, bars in Guwahati and Shillong are doing a remarkable job in showcasing the rich variety of ingredients from the region. What stands out is not just individual bars, but also the fact that there is now enough momentum in these cities to start forming a cocktail scene.”
At the same time, talent is also emerging from these places. Santanu Chanda, who leads the bar at PVR Home in Delhi, hails from Silchar while award-winning mixologist Aashi Bhatnagar of Cobbler & Crew is from Moradabad.
An evolving culture
For Singh, the growth of the cocktail culture in tier 2 and tier 3 cities is being driven by a convergence of factors: a younger, well-travelled audience choosing to stay in or return to these cities; hospitality operators willing to invest in craft, not just scale; and greater access to information, global trends and ingredients. The internet, she added, has been a key leveller. “A bartender in a smaller city today is as aware of global movements as someone in a metro. The difference now is how quickly that awareness translates into practice,” she said. “It is still an evolving culture, but it is no longer peripheral.”
Meanwhile, Newatia believes this momentum will only strengthen. “As more spaces invest in quality, training and storytelling, you will see a far more confident cocktail culture emerge across tier 2 cities,” he said.