The smell of Desmondji's Pure Cane is heavy, sweet and slightly rancid, like the deteriorating debris of a sugar-cane juice vendor's stall. Which is pretty accurate since this colourless spirit is distilled from fermented sugarcane juice.

It is not rum, which is made from molasses, but like Brazilian cachaca or Caribbean rhum agricole, both fiery spirits made straight from sugarcane. For a country that grows so much sugarcane, this is strangely the first spirit made directly from it - legal and above board, that it is.Pure Cane, which has just been launched by the Goa-based Desmondji, is also an example of a new trend in the Indian spirits industry - the move towards spirits made from authentic source materials, in traditional ways.

This is counter to the way the oddly named Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) category was conceived in the past. These were made by flavouring and colouring extra neutral alcohol that was derived from molasses, cheaply available as a by-product of sugar manufacture. Nearly all Indian versions of whisky, brandy, gin, vodka were originally made from molasses.

Second After Agave Spirit

Which meant that by international standards, Indian whisky was not really whisky, since real whisky had to be made from malted grains. It was, at best, a strange kind of rum, which is the one spirit really made from molasses. Pure Cane is, in fact, the second authentic spirit that the company has launched, after it started with Agave Spirit, made from the same base of a cactus-like succulent that is used to make Mexican tequila.

The company cannot call its spirit tequila since that term is exclusive to the spirit made in Mexico - and fiercely defended by them. But it is made from the same blue agave plants, grown in the Deccan, and made into spirit in the company's distillery in Andhra Pradesh.

Originally from the drier regions of Mexico and Southern USA, and possibly imported into India for ornamental purposes, agave now grows wild in the similar conditions of the Deccan. Nazareth set up his distillery in AP, partly because he was able to obtain a licence there, and also because it was close to the growing areas. The spirit is made there, but bottled in Goa.Desmondji's agave spirit has been very well received, and has got him international attention, including from Mexico.

He also makes an orange liqueur, from ENA, but flavoured with Nagpur oranges - "so we could offer Indian versions of all the ingredients for margaritas," he laughs. This success whetted his appetite for other authentic spirits, and a cachaca-like drink was an obvious choice. People were more aware of it thanks to the popularity of drinks like caiprinhas (lime, sugar and cachaca, like a knock-out nimbu-pani) and sugarcane was easily available. "And with the World Cup and Rio Olympics coming up, all things Brazilian will be very popular, so why not be ready with something appropriate?" he says. But the real pioneer for authentic spirits in India is Karnataka-basedAmrut Distilleries. Established in 1948, the company was a regular IMFL producer with brands like Amrut Prestige Whisky, Silver-Cup Brandy and Blue-Star Gin, all made the regular way. But NeelakantaRaoJagdale, CMD, Amrut explains that in the mid-'80s, they started making whisky from malted grains: "We wanted to enhance the quality of whiskies we were already producing by blending with malt spirit." Others were doing this too, to create more premium blends, but they were mostly buying from abroad, but Amrut felt that doing it themselves would give them better control over supplies.

Structural and regulatory changes in the liquor industry would encourage this trend. Jagdale explains that even the use of ENA was a step up from the molasses derived rectified spirit that was originally used for IMFL (now you know why drinking in the '70s really left you with a hangover!) The problem with switching to grain was simply that enough extra grain was not available in those days of food shortages.

"The country's own sufficiency in grain production from 2000 gave a fillip to grain alcohol production," he says. "Technology upgradation by plant manufacturers like Praj has also aided in bringing grain alcohol as a future substitute for potable alcohol purposes."

By then IMFL makers also had a potent motivator to upgrading. The entry of liquor multinationals, touting their products as more authentic than IMFL and attractive to increasingly affluent consumers, was a strong sign of where the future lay. Indian companies could either upgrade and build brand equity, or find themselves relegated to the lower end of the market. In the liquor business, such mass market sales are usually tied to government agencies in different states, and it is a notoriously cut-throat and corrupt business.