Third Eye Distillery

Third Eye Distillery's three founders (Sakshi Saigal, Rahul Mehra and Vidur Gupta) have shrouded their distillery in light humoured myth and legend – an angle that works well with Goa’s status as a hippie mecca. Despite their rather vague website, there are no secrets here since the trio does all of their own distilling. Their exotic and hip image was created merely to poke a little fun at themselves and their country’s obsession with ritual and folklore.

"We decided to distil our own quality Indian spirits, starting with this small batch gin which uses common spices and botanicals found in every Indian household." — Sakshi Saigal, Third Eye Distillery co-founder.

The trio came together to create a gin when they realised that most ‘Indian’ gins available had very little to do with the country, bar their ingredients. Stranger & Sons is one of the first fully Indian gins to emerge since the 1940s, as the country’s distilleries have dedicated all of their efforts to dark spirits for the past few decades.

The Third Eye team work hard to reduce their environmental impact. Unused citrus is returned to the local supplier to be made into traditional jams, pickles or cordials, which are then sold at local markets so there is no wastage. Botanicals are also used whole, with no part discarded as waste. Their packaging is plastic-free, without even a dash of tape. They're in the process of installing a solar roof, which will help to provide at least some of the energy that distilling uses. Furthermore, they've invested in a recycling tank that reduces their water requirement to 25 litres instead of the 10,000 litres of water that most distilleries use.