Founded by Varun Jain, an entrepreneur from the NV Group, one of India’s largest distilled spirit companies, Smoke Lab came to life in early 2020, becoming one of India's first homegrown premium vodka brands. Inspired by global vodka giants, Jain sought to create a world-class Indian vodka that could compete internationally. The journey in terms of research began almost a decade ago, with the brand officially launching at the start of the pandemic.
Despite the pandemic, Smoke Lab made its debut in India and the US, and quickly gained traction. The brand, with Varun Jain and Sanya Jain as co-founders, offers a diverse portfolio of expressions, each celebrating Indian flavours such as the Classic, Aniseed, Saffron and Green Chilli Mango. This Diwali, Smoke Lab launched its first 24-carat-gold infused vodka—Liquid Gold.
Smoke Lab, born out of Delhi, has its primary distillery located in Punjab which operates under a strict zero carbon footprint and zero water waste protocol. As per Jain, that’s where all the premium liquids of the brand get made. There are also additional distilleries in Haryana and Maharashtra. Besides vodka, the brand also has a line of genderless streetwear that promotes equality and tolerance, under the name Smoke Lab Wear; is in the world to soon launch Smoke Lab Experimental Centers for people to see the process of manufacturing and partake its tastings; and its first-of-a-kind water cans.
In a conversation with Forbes India, Jain talks about the premium vodka scene in India, Liquid Gold, competitors, expansion plans and more. Edited excerpts:
Q. What made you choose vodka as your entry into the spirits market?
Before Smoke Lab, we were third-party contract manufacturers for other brands. We also had a couple of small brands, including a vodka called Blue Moon, which caters to a basic, regular segment. But we learnt over time that in India, between 2009 and 2015, there was no premium vodka. So, then we started the journey where we did a lot of R&D and worked with data and patterns in alcohol consumption in the country. We asked a lot of questions: What's going on in the market? What's new? Where is the gap? What can we fill in?
The markets were clear that there is no premium vodka category in the market. That's how Smoke Lab got born. The thought came in 2009. We started implementing in 2015-16, but we wanted to hit the nail on the target and so we took our time with it. I did a soft launch with a small group in 2019 and got a lot of feedback, and we made a lot of corrections and finally launched in 2020. That's how we started our journey. Then the second part was getting the flavours out.
Q. Were there any challenges you faced in establishing a premium vodka brand in a market traditionally dominated by brown spirits?
There is a mindset in India about imported products being premium and the ones to go for. That was a big obstacle. We were presenting a premium vodka, with relatively higher prices and it needed a number of tastings, conversations with professional mixologists, restaurateurs, and hoteliers for us to start capturing the market. We had to make them believe in the brand. It takes time to build a brand, and we're still building it.
Other than that, there are usually obstacles, of course, in every state individually. Every state has its own legalities, which you have to, of course, match. Then it is looking at what your competition is doing. It is important to learn how to convert customers to your brand.
I would say we are an artisanal brand. We are different, and honestly in my head, I don't want to keep competition. My competition is me—how I can improve myself.
Obviously brown spirits have been favoured in the Indian market. They are also making a mark globally, especially owing to our single malts reaching the global market and winning accolades. We are very proud about that. They've got us going too. Having said that, it's not like a piggyback. We also made our identity as white spirits. What makes us stand out are our flavours. What we do at Smoke Lab in terms of flavouring, nobody else does it. We have more flavours in the pipeline and I think we are slowly getting there.
Also Read: We want to reshape the future of premium Indian alcobev: Indri whisky's Siddhartha Sharma
Q. What are your thoughts on the ‘sipping vodka’ culture that India is slowly adapting to?
I think there's a niche to it. White spirit is growing organically. Gin blew up recently. I think vodka gin as a category has come back into the industry, also because of mixology. When we talk about cocktails, the general thought is that a cocktail will always have vodka in it, not gin or whiskey.
With a lot of R&D and market research, we discovered that there is no sipping vodka in India. How do you call it sipping vodka? You have to put a flavour to it. Our thought came in 2020-21, where we started thinking about the first Indian sipping vodka. Saffron came into the picture, because saffron is very well known with the Indian palate, and also one of the most expensive spices in the world. We worked on how to naturally infuse saffron. R&D took us one year to get the pallet right. Saffron vodka is a cocktail itself, and, of course, a sipping vodka.
Q. What was the spark behind Liquid Gold? Can you also talk about its distribution and pricing?
Liquid Gold is a close product to me. Two years ago, we started research on it. It all started thanks to Beluga. I thought why can't we achieve what Beluga does as an Indian homegrown brand? We have the resources, and the USP. We only had to pool it together to make something unique. The name Liquid Gold came from World War II, where all high-quality crude oil was called Liquid Gold in code language. And we too were producing something of high value. While distilling the liquid, we pulled the trick to put 24-carat gold edible, certified leaves in it, and it worked. We were supposed to take the product out last year, but we couldn't do it because we were still at 99 percent. We wanted to be 101 percent to make sure it checks all boxes of quality, value and premiumisation.
We tried a number of things before the actual launch. We did mixology. We did tastings with friends. We also did a lot of pair tasting with our product and Beluga vodka. What pushed us towards the launch was the fact that many of our friends couldn’t tell which is which. That gave us that confidence. Then we spent time on details—from big to the most intricate. We decided on bottle design, cap design, back label design, and even on the quality of cartons we are going to package it in. We deep-dived in the whole procurement process as well. We are proud of the end result. And the best part is, when we launched it around Diwali, we got sold out in Haryana, where we launched first. Then, we got sold out in Delhi. We are also tapping the Mumbai market where Liquid Gold will soon be available. It has been supplied to Rajasthan, has gone overseas to Dubai, and will soon be sent to the US.
When it comes to pricing, we have set it globally for $100. In India, things were a little difficult when we were deciding the price, as Indians feel why should we spend so much on a homegrown brand when we can buy something like a Beluga at similar pricing. Working around this, we priced it at Rs7,500 to Rs8,000 in Mumbai, capped it at around Rs5,000 in Delhi and elsewhere.
Q. Are there plans to expand into other spirits categories like gin, rum, or whisky, and other markets?
So, we have a beer called Langur. It's a fun beer. The tagline is no monkey business. It’s doing well. We are also delving into single malts. All other details about the single malt launch are in place, but the funny part is, only the blend is not ready or final yet. By 2026, hopefully by Diwali, we will launch our single malt. In terms of markets, we have sold in Bahrain. We are now looking at markets in Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and England.
Q. Smoke Lab is one of India’s first zero-carbon distilleries. Can you elaborate on your sustainability practices and goals, something which is needed across all industries today?
We try to use the least plastic possible. Even what we receive from our vendors is usually in recyclable containers which are washed and reused in our facility. Even the cartons in which it comes are kept and used again to send the finished product into the market. That's the sustainable angle. It also helps us in saving costs.
First Published: Nov 06, 2025, 18:29
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