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How Glenwalk became the fastest-selling whiskey in the market.
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Today’s edition.
Sanjay Dutt launched a Scotch whiskey (imported), The Glenwalk, in 2023. You know the play. Good brand-celeb fit, targeting the right customer segment, and relatability.
Then, in 2025, the Glenwalk became the highest-selling alcohol in Maharashtra, selling 10 lakh bottles in just 120 days. Most new alcohol brands can only dream of doing those numbers in less than 2 years. Some don’t even get the right distributors by then. So, how did the Glenwalk do it? We went to the bottom of it over the past few days. Here’s what we found.
Indians love whiskey.
More than any liquor in the world. See the figure above. The numbers are telling. Indians began importing liquor, becoming the largest importers in the world. And when they didn’t have their fill, they started producing some at home. But why?
Indians optimise for buzz per ml to escape their everyday life. Low-alcohol-by-volume (ABV) beverages like beer (~2-4% ABV) require you to have 4-5 bottles before you feel a buzz. But hard liquor like whiskey or gin (~30-40% ABV)? 2-3 pegs, and you already feel lighter.
Alcohol brands love whiskey too — the margins are gooood.
Take a 750ml whiskey bottle with MRP ₹1,750. Typical tax will be ₹875. With the remaining ₹875, the brand has to figure out COGS, marketing, logistics, and other costs, while also making a profit. Considering all other costs, that’s ~₹500 earned per whiskey bottle.
Now compare that to beer. A bottle sells for ₹110. The government takes about 45% of the MRP or ₹50 as tax. After all costs, the brand barely breaks even at ~₹10 in profit.
This margin difference is why there is so much competition in the whiskey category.
So, how did Glenwalk enter the market?
It’s crowded. There’s a whiskey for everyone at nearly every price point. And the nips (small packs)? They start as low as ₹200. If you compete on price, you’re playing the volume game.
And if you’re betting on the premium segment, you’re hoping on that top 10% of the market to keep buying from you. One wrong move, and you’d never make it to the shelf a second time — screwing up the repeat.
The wedge with pricing.
It entered the premium segment and placed itself bang in the middle — not too cheap to lose out on margins, nor too expensive to risk slow movement. Plus, The Glenwalk isn’t any old whiskey. It’s a Scotch whiskey which is made, aged & bottled in Scotland. Something people pay a premium for even on a regular day. But The Glenwalk, it’s priced at ~₹1725, undercutting most other whiskeys.
The trick is in the recipe.
Here’s what makes whiskey expensive: malt percentage (more malt = richer, more complex flavour), ageing time (longer in casks = deeper taste), and grain quality (Scottish barley beats Indian barley every time).
The Glenwalk is a blended Scotch with 15% malt, aged for 3 years. It’s got the flavour from Scottish grains. Plus, it still maintains the sweet notes that Indians like. So, while it may not be the most premium or authentic Scotch on the market, Indians like it, and that’s all it takes to win them.
Nailing distribution.
Cracking distribution is a two-part problem for new brands.
The listing & distribution.
You need to get listed in every state where they want a presence. The catch? Each state has different registration, listing & approval fees. Some markets, like Goa, have a much lower listing fee ~₹50,000 for certain alcohols, while others, like Delhi, could be as high as ₹25 lakh for a single year. Since listing & excise fall under state law, most states set their own terms.
Next comes distribution.
Distributors buy liquor from manufacturers, then resell it to retailers on credit. If bottles don’t move in the store, they’re reabsorbed by distributors for discounting, sales, export, or destruction. Either way, it’s a distributor’s loss. So they’re picky about what they stock.
Bigwigs like Diageo & Pernod Ricard don’t face the same challenges.
They use a negotiation tactic that new brands can’t. They demand distributors take their new liquor if they want cases of Johny Walker, a fast-moving product, for instance.
So, as a new brand, you need the money to pay for state-wise licenses, have connections to get your bottles stocked, and a solid plan to move bottles to the end customer, all figured out.
This is where Glenwalk’s founders’ connections come in.
Rohan Nihalani, founder of Morgan Beverages and partner at Cartel & Bros (Glenwalk’s parent company), had already spent years importing liquors and ciders. He knows the excise networks inside out — who to talk to, which regulations to navigate.
Mokksh and Manish Sani? They own Living Liquidz, which runs retail stores across multiple states and has deep distributor relationships across Maharashtra, Haryana, Delhi, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu.
No wonder Glenwalk didn’t need to build a distribution network. While competitors scrambled to convince distributors to take a chance on them, Glenwalk walked straight onto shelves.
Now, picture a conversation at a Living Liquidz shop.
Customer: I usually buy Royal Stag Barrel Select (₹1280), but I want to try a Scotch now — have a special occasion coming up.
Salesman: This new whiskey is “premium scotch”. It has a great taste.
Customer: Price?
Salesman: Let me check. It’s ₹1725.
It’s an easy sale since the price difference isn’t a lot. More margin for the retailer, more commission for the salesman. It’s the perfect loop.
Not just Glenwalk, a lot of new-age alcohol brands crack discoverability through salesmen. They position themselves as replacements for what you already drink, with great packaging and an attractive price point.
Protecting margins with duty-free.
Any imported spirit must pay up customs, excise and VAT to the government. Here’s a breakdown of taxes, for reference. Together, all taxes amount to ~80% of a liquor bottle’s retail price.
Now, let’s compare this with a duty-free purchase.
In 2025, 74% of all alcohol that was sold at duty-free stores was whiskey. And 64% of that number is Scotch. Reason? Whiskies are cheaper at duty-free stores for international travellers, thanks to no import taxes, sales tax, or VAT. Great for volume sales.
But wait, isn’t there a limit on how many bottles you can buy at duty-free? Yep, India has a 2-bottle limit, meaning duty-free would amount to a tiny fraction of The Glenwalk’s sales.
Here’s what’s interesting, though. Passenger growth at Indian airports grew from ~150M to ~410M between 2021 and 2025 alone. It’s a crazy sales opportunity when you think about it. More people travelling = more duty-free sales.
Looks like The Glenwalk recognises this as an opportunity, too. As of 2025, the brand is present in 24 duty-free stores globally.
Right now, the Cartel & Bros are riding on the success of the Glenwalk. They’ve got plans to launch more house brands over the next few years. Will these ventures stick? We’ll keep tabs for you.
Glenwalk had connections.
Mokksh knew his Cartel & Bros’ co-founders before launching the brand. He understood liquor retail at 15 — something most of us learn at 24, if ever. Having a set of people you can rely on, ask for help from, and learn from is an unfair advantage.
You might not have as strong a network as him but you can build one.
Here’s how — by joining the GrowthX community of 5,000+ members from companies like Future Group, Jio, Nestle, HUL, ITC & more new age brands like Lenskart, Flipkart, & more. All you need to do is check if you are eligible & get into the right rooms.
Brilliant breakdown of how the founders leveraged existng retail networks to bypass the typical distributor cold start problem. The 15% malt blend hitting that sweet spot between authenticity and Indian taste preferances is the kinda product tuning most brands overlook when entering crowded markets. I ran into similr issues with getting early shelf space back in my own venture, so seeing Living Liquidz essentially doubling as their own beta market is genius.