Cherrapunji Eastern Craft Gin, founded by Mayukh Hazarika in Meghalaya’s rain-soaked hills, uses harvested rainwater and botanicals from across the Northeast to capture the region’s identity in flavour. With citrus-forward notes, smoky depth and a durable stainless-steel bottle, the award-winning gin challenges stereotypes, supports local farmers and carries a proud Product of India label to global markets.
Chances are you have come across spirits crafted from grain, agave or sugarcane. Maybe even rarer ingredients like sweet potatoes, maple sap or even quinoa. But imagine a spirit made from harvested rainwater. And this isn’t just any rainwater, it comes from the wettest place on the planet. Rainwater has been harvested for drinking, farming, cooking and countless other uses for centuries. It replenishes our reservoirs. But for a gin? That’s a first. And that’s exactly what Mayukh Hazarika, founder of Cherrapunji Eastern Gin, decided to do.
In the misty, rain-drenched hills of Meghalaya sit two of the wettest places on Earth, Mawsynram and Cherrapunji, where rainfall becomes the very foundation of their gin. Yet, for drinking water, supply is often scarce during winter so, they harvest the rain not merely for the story but as a responsibility to return what they take. This is where the story of Cherrapunji Eastern Craft Gin begins.
For Robb Report India’s August theme, 'Celebrating India,' we spoke to Hazarika, to understand the story behind his gin. From its distinctive production methods to its award-winning craft and instantly recognisable bottle, here's how Cherrapunji Eastern Craft Gin is putting an unexpected Indian spirit firmly on the map.
The brand, as Hazarika puts it, is a COVID baby. When the pandemic struck, he returned home to Shillong and it was there that the idea took root. "I realised this place, my home, could be the foundation for something of global quality," he says a realisation that was as personal as it was pivotal.
Building Cherrapunji Gin has meant spending far more time in Shillong, where his family still lives. That sense of homecoming, he says, is invaluable as is the pride of telling this story proudly, not just across India but in every country the brand now reaches.
That pride is tied closely to a broader mission which is changing how the rest of India sees the Northeast. Too often, Hazarika believes, the region is viewed simply as a travel destination, its cultural depth including the food, the traditions, the soul of its society left overlooked. Cherrapunji Gin sets out to challenge that, using botanicals sourced from across the Northeast to tell the region's story through flavour and not just footfall. "Rather than waiting for people to visit, I'm bringing the Northeast to them," he says.
Translating a landscape into flavour, Hazarika explains, isn't about ticking cultural boxes. "The classic spirits playbook has always been about terroir. That's a great part of the story, but the idea was never to make a simple cultural representation, picking one botanical from each state to tick a box." Instead the goal was to make a great gin first using whatever the region's botanicals could offer to get there. The result draws on ingredients from across the Northeast to build deep citrus aromas, a long finish, and a smoky character lending the gin something rarely found elsewhere. "You rarely find these in a gin, and that's part of what makes it ours."
That same instinct shapes how the brand thinks about rainwater. Sourced from the rainiest place on earth, it isn't something Hazarika wants to sell as a virtue. "There's a lot of greenwashing in this industry, brands claiming virtue as a reason to buy, and I want no part of that." It's simply working with what the land provides, on its own terms. "It's woven into how we make the gin, not into how we sell it."
That same idea underpins the brand's approach to sustainability. The region's vulnerability to environmental change, flooding valleys, shifting seasons, is something Hazarika has seen up close and therefore has kept the brand's philosophy simple: Take only what the land can grow back. Rainwater is here is abundant and doesn't deplete; the citrus and other botanicals are grown, harvested and regenerated locally. What has shifted, he says, is a deeper understanding that sustainability isn't only about what you take; it's about what you build. Sourcing this way means working closely with farmers and processors, and over time, that has grown into an ecosystem built around the gin, as much about livelihoods as it is about the land itself.
“This one is deeply emotional for me, especially answering it around Independence Day,” Hazarika says when asked what “Made in India” means to him.
"On the front of our bottle it says Product of India, and I carry that with enormous pride," citing Akio Morita's account that "Made in Japan" was once printed in the smallest font possible, for fear consumers wouldn't buy it. "I think we're at the other end of that same journey. We're becoming proud of what we make because we're genuinely making good things," a sentiment he extends beyond his own brand to the wider Product of India badge, which he believes is overdue for global acceptance.
The response abroad, however, has still surprised people. An award-winning, Red Dot-winning gin, distinguished by its bottle art and made in India, often catches consumers off guard. For Hazarika, that reaction says less about Cherrapunji Gin than it does about shifting global perceptions of India itself as Indian automobiles gain ground, IT continues to lead, and consumer products increasingly follow suit. The difference, he stresses, is that they are being chosen on merit, not goodwill.
Looking ahead, he sees India's complex regulatory landscape shaping the pace of change. In the near term, he expects disruption within established spirit categories, driven by Indian ingredients and a distinctly Indian point of view. Indigenous spirits, he believes, are the longer game. Over the next decade, the ambition is to take that story further, carrying the identity of the Northeast with it, and he's confident about it.
At its core, Cherrapunji Gin is a botanical-forward gin with a smooth, creamy juniper base and a subtle smoky note. Khasi mandarin and Kaji lemon bring bright citrus, while Himalayan juniper and smoked cardamom add depth and warmth.
Each botanical carries its own story of place. The Khasi mandarin, grown only in Meghalaya, is often called the King of Oranges for a citrus note unmatched elsewhere. The Kaji Nemu, native to Assam, is a lemon variety prized for its striking aroma and juiciness, while Sohmarit Khlaw, a wild long pepper indigenous to Meghalaya, brings a distinctive character of heat and citrus. The smoked tea is sourced from deep within the Lushai Hills, where drying and smoking leaves is a tradition as old as the hills themselves. From Sikkim comes Amomum Subulatum, an organically grown, high-altitude black cardamom prized for its intensity, while Juniper Recura is sourced from Arunachal and Sikkim that lends the gin its earthy, floral, faintly spiced undertone.
The bottle itself is designed to outlast the gin inside it. Made from SS304 stainless steel, it's built to last twelve years or more and remains fully recyclable at the end of its life. Its artwork, though, is where the story turns visual. Hazarika turned to Portland-based artist Reshidev RK to design the bottle, a choice driven by more than friendship. "His style is unique. The colours, the illustration language, something distinctly Indian in the way he works. I knew from the start he was the right person for this."
Hazarika wanted Reshidev to capture Meghalaya in all its colour and character. The resulting design brought together monoliths, clouds, rain, red pandas and the iconic Bedford bus, weaving the region’s landscapes and cultural character into a single design.
For Hazarika, the farmers and communities behind Cherrapunji Gin aren't part of the brand story; they are central to how it operates. As one of the few distilleries in India to process its own botanicals, the brand works directly with growers and processors. “We don't use it as a marketing angle. It's just how the business runs,” he says.
The same thinking shapes his idea of success. His biggest source of inspiration right now is winning the Red Dot Award in 2026 and securing the brand’s patent but beyond sales and awards, he wants bartenders and consumers worldwide to know and understand their story. The next decade, he hopes, will see the story travel further.
In the end, the rarest thing in the bottle isn’t the rainwater, smoked cardamom or wild pepper. It is the Northeast’s greatest asset, its human potential, culture and creativity as Mayukh says, that makes Cherrapunji Gin taste like somewhere, not simply something.