Convenience has trumped craft, and consumers are increasingly embracing ready-to-drink cocktails. BEAT Cocktails saw an opportunity here and plunged right in. In conversation with Vidur Relan, Co-Founder, BEAT Cocktails.
Making cocktails can be a tedious process, from procuring ingredients to getting the right recipes, making it challenging for consumers to prepare and consume cocktails. BEAT Cocktails saw an opportunity here. Also, the Indian consumer is looking for variety beyond traditional alcoholic beverages, and the ready-to-drink beverage market offers just that.
Launched by Alcopop Spirits, BEAT Cocktails is the brainchild of two young entrepreneurs, Vidur Relan and Rohan Khare, who are passionate about disrupting India’s drinking culture. Explaining their vision, Vidur says, “The era of ready-to-drink cocktails is here. It intends to offer the evolved consumer segment a hassle-free drinking experience with convenience and variety. We have started with gin-based cocktails as gin is a preferred cocktail base and will soon be expanding this list to include more spirits. We aim to bring a range of uniquely crafted cocktails within our portfolio.”
Vidur was impressed by the booming on-the-go cocktail/hard seltzer market in the US during his time there as a student. After returning to India, he gained experience working in the Indian Private Equity industry and later coupled his insights with his desire to explore this uncharted territory in the Indian alcohol industry.
Crafted in India at a state-of-the-art facility in Goa, BEAT’s cocktails have been formulated to cater to a diverse audience. With its range, BEAT hopes to penetrate the Indian market deeply and increase consumer awareness in this segment.
Also, in the post-Covid era, there has been an increase in the at-home drinking culture, making consumers look for more variety for their home bars. BEAT Cocktails offers that with a mix of convenience and flavour.
Vidur spoke about how BEAT came about and why this is the most exciting segment in the Indian alco-bev space currently.
What made you launch BEAT hard seltzer?
The ready-to-drink (RTD) segment of the alco-bev industry is gaining a lot of popularity and has also seen immense growth and in the coming years more growth is expected.. We anticipate a huge demand in this category, so we feel this is the right time and phase in the consumer life cycle for a new brand like us in the market. Especially given the fact that there are limited players in this particular segment at the moment and the demand is at an all-time high. Being essentially a cocktail brand, we find a huge need gap being addressed by these kinds of products. This is the main reason we entered this category to take advantage of being the first-mover in India.
Was the product development challenging? How long did it take to hit the ground?
Product development was a challenging process as we had to ensure that our blends were carefully chosen in order to cater to the Indian palate. Our drinks are a healthier, lighter alternative to traditional alcoholic drinks, so we had to spend months before our product was finalised and could go in for commercial manufacturing.
What potential do you see in the RTD cocktail segment?
Bottled cocktails are a stand-alone product that come under the RTD segment in the alcohol beverage industry. This industry has had only a few players in this segment, therefore, bottled cocktails are a niche category that we are entering and exploring. BEAT is one of India’s first brands to launch carbonated, gin-based cocktails. As with everything else, the consumers are looking for convenience and a memorable experience in this segment as well. There is a need gap, which presents an excellent opportunity for us to enter this market and offer a variety to new-age consumers looking for options and diversity.
Please describe your current product line.
Currently, BEAT is launched at 8% alcohol content in Delhi. Our crafted cocktails are a healthier, lighter alternative to traditional alcoholic beverages and come in unique flavour mixes like Original, Watermelon Crush and Cucumber Ice to cater to our consumer’s tastes. Cocktail-making has never been easy. We, as a brand, are here to simplify the process and give the consumer a convenient on-the-go cocktail drinking experience.
What according to you is BEAT’s USP which makes it stand out among its competitors?
We are India’s first brand to launch carbonated, gin-based cocktails and will soon expand our product portfolio to launch other spirit-based cocktails. The idea is to make the cocktail-drinking experience convenient, memorable, sensory and value for money. Making cocktails is a tedious process, from procuring ingredients to getting the right recipes, making it challenging for consumers to prepare and consume cocktails conveniently. BEAT’s crafted cocktails redefine the cocktail-drinking experience by offering a range of products in different spirit bases that are ready to drink, taking away the hassle of making a cocktail. Our blends are our proprietary concoctions made with different flavours chosen to create our unique mixes, differentiating us from other players who focus more on mainstream cocktails such as LIIT’s, Negronis, Pulomas, etc. We aim to create a distinct identity as a brand by offering our typically crafted cocktails to the consumer, giving them a novel and unique experience.
What new flavours or product lines are in the pipeline?
We do plan to launch cocktails in different spirit bases ranging from vodka to white rum, etc. We want to continue to innovate and offer variety to the end consumer.
Can BEAT be used as a base for cocktails as well?
Yes, BEAT can definitely be used as a base for other cocktails as it is an RTD product which has gin, tonic and flavours in one bottle.
Since India is a dark market for alcoholic beverages, how are you promoting BEAT?
Like many other alco-bev brands, we are promoting BEAT through a mix of on-trade and off-trade outlets along with which we are trying to build awareness aggressively through digital media.
Do Indians need educating about the concept of a hard seltzer? Or are they already aware?
The cocktail/seltzer segment is growing very aggressively as a category in India. Many new and existing brands are currently looking at this space and have plans to launch products in this category. This influx of new brands will help create a market for these drinks which will in turn help in educating and building awareness in the Indian consumer.
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