When NV Group launched Smoke Lab, it aimed to do vodka differently—ditching familiar citrus and berry profiles for local flavours.
“When we started doing flavours, nobody was thinking about Indian flavours. Everybody was doing orange, lime, lemon and raspberry. We saw that gap,” said Varun Jain, who runs the brand founded in 2020. In October 2025, it launched a liquid gold variant, infused with 24-carat edible gold flakes.
But, alongside building its vodka business, it is now expanding its presence across categories, Jain said. “We have added beer to our portfolio and are working on introducing tequila, wine and a single malt whisky, a move aimed at becoming a fuller portfolio player.”
It also launched Mohulo gin in 2023, a craft-sipping gin priced around ₹4,000 per bottle.
Market flavour
Smoke Lab’s portfolio includes aniseed, saffron and green chilli mango alongside its classic vodka. The saffron variant uses Kashmiri saffron, while green chilli mango draws on the familiar raw-mango-and-spice combination.
The flavour-led approach has found some traction, at least in India. Flavoured variants account for about 40% of domestic sales. Internationally, however, the story is more traditional, with classic vodka contributing about 85% of volumes.
Jain said the push into flavours for also reflects changing consumption, particularly among younger urban consumers who are more open to experimentation. At the same time, he pointed to sharp regional differences in India’s alcohol market.
“Uttar Pradesh is a flavour market. A majority of the country’s volumes of flavoured spirits sell there, and we experiment in that market a lot,” he said, adding that consumption patterns vary widely across states.
Exports account for nearly 80% of Smoke Lab’s volumes and revenue, with the US emerging as its largest market. The brand has sold over 160,000 cases in the US over the past five years and is expanding into markets such as the UK and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
NV Distilleries & Breweries (P) Ltd is also a manufacturer and distiller of other spirits, including Blue Moon gin, and contract-manufactures spirits for other companies. The Rajpura, Punjab-based parent also makes the Royal Envy whisky and mass whisky under the Party Special brand.
Industry watchers say that pattern is not unusual for newer premium brands.
“Many mid-sized alcohol companies in India are built on a dependable backbone: third-party contract manufacturing and bottling. This part of the business provides the bread and butter to fund experimentation in more aspirational verticals, such as premium spirits. But launching a brand is the easy part. Growing and sustaining it is where most stumble,” said Vikram Achanta, founder of Delhi-based drinks consultancy Tulleho.
That sustenance sometimes, though, Achanta said, is not there as premium spirits are a very competitive market.
A quiet shift
Mass brands continue to dominate volumes, with Magic Moments from Radico Khaitan remaining the scale leader, albeit at a significantly lower price point than emerging premium labels.
in the country rose about 5% across price segments in 2024, making it one of the stronger-performing spirits categories that year, according to London-based consultancy IWSR. Magic Moments dominated with a 60% share, and its domestic sales grew by 17% in 2024, while duty-free sales surged by 48%.
At the same time, the segment is seeing early premiumization. In July 2025, Radico Khaitan launched The Spirit of Kashmyr, a grain-based vodka priced at ₹2,500-3,000 across states, signalling a clearer push up the value chain. Globus Spirits followed a similar direction with Terai India Craft vodka, launched in October 2025, positioned as a craft vodka filtered through amethyst crystals and made from locally sourced rice in Rajasthan, priced around ₹2,245 for a 750 ml bottle.
According to IWSR data, the country’s vodka market expanded 10% in 2025, driven by premiumization. Premium-and-above vodka is particularly strong, with a projected compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10% between 2021 and 2026.
For Smoke Lab, however, the competition is widening just as the category is fragmenting between mass, premium and craft positioning. Back home, the brand’s footprint remains concentrated. Delhi, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan together account for roughly 90% of domestic volumes, leaving significant room for expansion but also highlighting how narrow the base still is.
The company’s growth curve has not been linear. Volumes rose from 28,000 cases in 2022-23 to 58,000 in 2023-24 before dropping to 43,000 in 2024-25, due to US tariff disruptions, according to Jain. Even so, Smoke Lab has posted a CAGR of over 40% in recent years and is currently operating at an annual revenue run-rate of about ₹15 crore.
At the group level, NV reported a turnover of ₹1,600 crore in 2024-25, with a profit of ₹60 crore, Jain said. Smoke Lab continues to sit within the larger structure rather than operating as a standalone business. Within vodka, Jain said expansion will remain controlled. “New flavours will be introduced only when there is clear demand rather than as a constant pipeline. We won’t take out flavour after flavour,” he added.