Why Smoke Lab maker is adding beer and single-malt whisky to its portfolio

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories.When NV Group launched Smoke Lab, it aimed to do vodka differently—ditching familiar citrus and berry profiles for local flavours.“When we started doing flavours, nobody was thinking about Indian flavours. Everybody was doing orange, lime, lemon and raspberry.

We saw that gap,” said Varun Jain, who runs the brand founded in 2020. In October 2025, it launched a liquid gold variant, infused with 24-carat edible gold flakes.But, alongside building its vodka business, it is now expanding its presence across categories, Jain said.

“We have added beer to our portfolio and are working on introducing tequila, wine and a single malt whisky, a move aimed at becoming a fuller portfolio player.”It also launched Mohulo gin in 2023, a craft-sipping gin priced around ₹4,000 per bottle.Smoke Lab’s vodka portfolio includes aniseed, saffron and green chilli mango alongside its classic vodka. The saffron variant uses Kashmiri saffron, while green chilli mango draws on the familiar raw-mango-and-spice combination.The flavour-led approach has found some traction, at least in India.

Flavoured variants account for about 40% of domestic sales. Internationally, however, the story is more traditional, with classic vodka contributing about 85% of volumes.Jain said the push into flavours for premium spirits also reflects changing consumption, particularly among younger urban consumers who are more open to experimentation.

At the same time, he pointed to sharp regional differences in India’s alcohol market.“Uttar Pradesh is a flavour market. A majority of the country's volumes of flavoured spirits sell there, and we experiment in that market a lot,” he said, adding that consumption patterns vary widely across