McDowell’s, Royal Stag and Imperial Blue were the world’s top three highest-selling whisky brands last year, according to the authoritative annual Drinks International Millionaires’ Club’s 2025 ranking of alcohol brands that sell more than 1 million cases, released last week. The three Indian brands collectively sold a staggering 86 million cases in 2024, accounting for nearly a third of the total volume of whiskies sold by the world’s top 30 producers. 

Indians, of course, are well known as the world champions in drinking whisky. It is further highlighted by the fact that the global Top 10 ranking in the list features two more Indian whiskies, Officer’s Choice at No.5, and Blender’s Pride at No.9. And considering that India is the largest market for Scotch whisky in the world it is more than likely that local consumption has contributed significantly to Johnnie Walker’s No.4 and Ballantine’s No.10 position in the list.

As many as 13 out of the 30 top-selling whiskies in the world are from India, with Royal Challenge, 8PM, Royal Green, Iconiq White, Sterling Reserve, Director’s Special, Signature, and 8PM Premium Black being the other local brands in the list. These Indian Millionaires’ Club members sold a total of 156 million cases last year, constituting nearly 60 per cent of the total whisky sales of the top 30 brands in the world. 

Measured across all categories, including rum, vodka, gin, brandy, soju, etc. McDowell’s whisky is the 3rd  largest selling alcohol in the world, followed by Royal Stag at No.4, Imperial Blue at No.7 and Officer’s Choice at No.7. Indian whisky sales grew at a mind-boggling pace of 17 % last year, the highest among any category of alcohol in the world, a testament of the robustness of India’s rising population of whisky drinkers. Iconiq White, a whisky launched by Allied Blenders in 2022, recorded the fastest growth rate among all alcohol categories worldwide, with sales rising by as much as 181%. 

Another alcohol category where Indian brands are increasingly making their presence felt is brandy. There are six local brands among the total of 14 brands of brandy/cognac that sell more than a million cases globally every year. Mansion House from Tilaknagar Industries is the second largest selling brandy in the world, with Old Admiral by Radico Khaitan at No.4, Courier Napolean (Tilaknagar Industries) No.6, Silver Cup (Amrut Distilleries) No.9, Morpheus (Radico Khaitan) No. 11, and McDowell’s (Diageo) No.12.

Similarly, Indian brands are increasingly playing a dominant role in the rum category. There are four of them in the Top 10  list this year: McDowell’s No.1 Celebration (Diageo) at No.4, 1965 (Radico Khaitan) No.7, Old Port (Amrut Distilleries) No.8 and Contessa (Radico Khaitan) No. 9.

Radico Khaitan’s Magic Moments, though, is the only Indian flag bearer in the vodka category, coming in at No. 8 after clocking a 15% growth rate in 2024. Radico Khaitan, in fact, is the only fully Indian-owned company in the ranking of top liquor producers in the world, a list otherwise dominated by multinational giants. The company is ranked at No.3 with eight brands in the Millionaire’s Club after Diageo and Pernod Ricard, and alongside Bacardi and Suntory Global Spirits. With the kind of growth local brands continue to clock every year, it won’t be long before many more Indian companies find their names in this August list.