How a 90 Year Old House Learned a New Language
I walked in aware that this was Tilaknagar’s first serious step into whisky after decades of brandy leadership. The way the team described the product reflected that reality. Conversations centred on learning from bartenders, on how guests might respond, and on the practical role the whisky could play in Indian bars, rather than on grand claims. For a company with such a long history, the tone felt grounded and attentive.
Tilaknagar has been the fastest growing spirits company in India for two consecutive years, and that success seems to have earned them the confidence to experiment without pretending they already know everything. What stood out was how little the discussion relied on marketing hype, which let’s face it, can often create statements that don’t mean anything meaningful. The focus stayed on how Seven Islands was created, what a pure malt means for drinkers, and how bartenders might use it on a busy shift.
Seven Islands Pure Malt is their first Indo-Scottish malt, and the idea behind the name immediately caught my attention. Mumbai, the city many of us treat as a single sprawl, was once seven separate islands before reclamation slowly stitched them together. I have lived in and out of this city for years and when I first heard this, I was amazed. The whisky borrows that history as its metaphor, bringing together malts from the Himalayas, the Vindhyas, Speyside, and the Lowlands into one voice.
As someone who spends a lot of time in bars, I tend to listen to how brands talk about the people who will actually pour their liquid. With Sanaya Dahanukar, marketing manager and fifth generation in the business, that focus was obvious. Her background, part family legacy, part modern education, seems to have shaped a marketing approach rooted in authenticity and in listening to consumer trends rather than loud campaigns designed only to sell bottles. The conversations were practical, about how bartenders might explain the liquid to a curious guest, or how it could sit comfortably beside both Scotch and Indian single malts.
Seven Islands, while a blend of several different malts, has no grain spirit like a typical blended whisky would, but because the malts come from more than one distillery, it cannot be labeled a single malt. The Himalayan component brings lift, the Vindhyan malt adds warmth shaped by Indian climate, Speyside contributes familiar sweetness, and Lowland spirit offers softness to the overall whisky. Ex-Bourbon casks lend vanilla and gentle oak, while French oak ex-wine casks add dried fruit depth. Tasting it, I found tropical fruit on the nose, a creamy mid palate, and a finish that felt long without being aggressive. It benefited from opening up which allowed some of the more heady notes to disperse, and the stewed berry flavours to emerge.
Tilaknagar’s move into whisky follows the launch of Monarch Legacy Edition, their luxury grape brandy, and together the two products signal a company willing to push beyond the category that made its name. There was a sense that this is only the beginning, and that more innovation will follow once the team grows comfortable speaking this new language. The chatter of another pure malt in the mix certainly has my mouth watering.
The packaging also spoke to the way the company is thinking. Both bottles feel deliberately elevated, designed to stand out on a back bar rather than blend in with more traditional shaped products. Seven Islands in particular arrives without a box, a decision that makes sense from a waste perspective and lets the eye-catching bottle do the talking. The rectangular form, the subtle cartographic lines, and the anchor motif give it enough presence to spark curiosity on a shelf, proof that thoughtful design can be confident without excess.
For Indian consumers the relevance is straightforward. Seven Islands can work as a bridge whisky, something to offer guests who want to explore beyond Scotch but are unsure where to start with Indian labels. It behaved kindly in a simple highball with ginger ale, and I could imagine it sliding easily into stirred classics where texture matters more than muscle.
What stayed with me most was the respect the team showed toward the trade. No one assumed the whisky would automatically earn a place on back bars because of the company logo. The attitude was closer to earning trust one pour at a time, and that felt honest.
Mumbai’s story of seven islands becoming one city is a reminder that identities change slowly. Watching a brandy house learn to think like whisky makers carried the same feeling. Let traditions guide the future progress.
I was particularly interested in understanding how the bar community had shaped the development of Seven Islands. Sanaya spoke about how dramatically the conversation around Indian whisky has evolved in recent years. Where once the focus was on comparison with Scotch, today bartenders are more engaged with identity, provenance, and process, from grain origin to the impact of India’s climate and the philosophy behind blending. That shift has influenced not only how the whisky is talked about, but also how it is served, with a clear move toward whisky-forward cocktails that frame the spirit rather than conceal it.
“What bartenders are most excited to discuss now is provenance and process, including the origin of the grain, the impact of India’s climate on maturation, and the blending philosophy that defines the final liquid. There is a growing confidence in telling the whisky’s story on its own terms.” - Sanaya Dahanukar
