Rum brands from India .. Looking beyond OLD MONK

As the largest producer and consumer of sugar, it is an irony that India doesn't produce Rums that would put its name on the Rum map and the even bigger one is that most of the million case whiskies from India are produced from molasses, a raw material for rum. How about Old Monk then? Old monk is a Cult more than a Rum and sits high on a pedestal. Well the scenario is changing now and we have rum brands mushrooming or should I say rum culture finding feet in India. Here are the brands you should know:

Short Story
From the House of Third Eye, the folks behind Stranger & Sons gin, the Short Story rum brings together 4 countries in a bottle, Indian molasses rum and from Jamaica, Trinidad and Dominican Republic.

Pitbull
The latest rum in the Mumbai rum scene, the dark rum is made in Aurangabad with Sugarcane molasses and barrel aged spirits. The bottle says, it has no added sugar.

Segredo Aldeia
Translates to secret village, Segredo a Goan white rum is made from cane and jaggery and is a blend of aged (ex-bourbon barrels) and unaged rums. They also have a coffee flavoured variant.

Camikara
Made by Piccadily Distillery in Haryana, it is India's first pure cane juice rum and their first expression is a 12 year old limited edition aged in ex-bourbon casks and has no addition of colour or sugar in the bottle.

Alejandro
Made in Goa, this spiced rum from Adinco distilleries is unique with its use of local traditional rice, the ukda tandel in the process. It reminds us of one of the earliest cane based spirits; the Batavia arrack made from juice and red rice in Indonesia.

Earth
A Spiced Rum from Goa with spices like clove, star anise, Cinnamon etc. all sourced from India. They also plan to launch an aged golden variant soon.

2 Indies
Just like the Short Story, the Two Indies rum is a Indo-Caribbean blend and hence the name. The Caribbean rums come from Jamaica, Barbados and Guyana. The rum comes from the house of Amrut Single Malts.

Makazai
Makazai is a craft rum from Goa. The name translates to "I want" in Konkani. It is available in white and gold variants.

Rock Paper
A brainchild of Lalit Khalani a veteran in the molasses spirit business, Rock Paper is a small batch variant from the group and available in 2 styles, a Spiced Golden and the Coastal White Rum.

Wild Tiger
An export-only rum from India for now the Wild Tiger is made in Kerala and comes in a faux-skin of the animal to make the packaging unique. The rum is aged in ex-bourbon casks and is available in variants like reserve, spiced etc.

Ron De Ugar
From the house of Ugar Sugars of Belagavi, Karnataka who have been into distilling since 1961. The Ron De Ugar is premium brand from the house, they call it the handcrafted rum.