Antiquity is a brand of

Indian whisky most distilled spirits labelled as "whisky" in India were a form of Indian-made foreign liquor, commonly blends based on neutral spirits that are distilled from fermented molasses with only a small portion consisting of traditional malt w ...

, manufactured by

United Spirits Ltd United Spirits Limited, abbreviated to USL, is an Indian alcoholic beverages company, and the world's second-largest spirits company by volume. It is a subsidiary of Diageo, and headquartered at UB Tower in Bangalore, Karnataka. USL exports i ...

(USL), a subsidiary of the

United Breweries Group United Breweries Holdings Limited (UBHL), also called UB Group, is an Indian conglomerate headquartered in UB City, Bangalore, Karnataka. Its core business includes beverages and investments in various sectors. The company markets beer un ...

. It was launched in 1992 and is available in two variants Antiquity Blue and Antiquity Rare.United Spirits Limited (USL) - Who We Are , About Us
. Unitedspirits.in (2013-03-31). Retrieved on 2013-12-23.

Brand expressions

The Antiquity brand is available in two variants Antiquity Blue and Antiquity Rare. Antiquity Blue is made of Indian and Scotch malt whisky blended with

grain spirit Rectified spirit, also known as neutral spirits, rectified alcohol or ethyl alcohol of agricultural origin, is highly concentrated ethanol that has been purified by means of repeated distillation in a process called rectification. In some countri ...

. Antiquity Blue was awarded "Silver Best in Class" in the Spirits Tasting competition by the 2012

International Wine and Spirit Competition The International Wine & Spirit Competition is an annual wine and spirit competition founded in 1969 by the German/British oenologist Anton Massel. Each year the competition receives entries from over 90 countries worldwide. The awards given by ...

at the

Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America, Inc. (WSWA) is the industry trade group representing wine and spirits wholesalers in the United States. WSWA is headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in and has 360 member companies in all 50 ...

(WSWA) Conference. In a taste test of "India's 5 cheapest whiskeys" by '' GQ'' magazine, Antiquity Rare received a rating of 4.2/10. The magazine said that the whisky had "won few admirers among the judges, with complaints of a perfumed, nearly

acetone Acetone (2-propanone or dimethyl ketone), is an organic compound with the formula . It is the simplest and smallest ketone (). It is a colorless, highly volatile and flammable liquid with a characteristic pungent odour. Acetone is miscib ...

taste except for one diehard fan".

History

Antiquity was launched in 1992 by Shaw Wallace. United Spirits Ltd (USL), a subsidiary of the

(UB Group), acquired Shaw Wallace in July 2005. On 1 April 2008, Shaw Wallace was merged with USL and Antiquity officially became a USL brand. In April 2008, the UB Group appointed

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

-based design firm Claessens International to revamp the packaging of Antiquity. The primary reason behind the revamp was to retain the heritage character and incorporation of the Shaw Wallace name on the bottles of the brand that was formerly owned by SWC. Antiquity was introduced in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

by American United Beer & Spirits (UBS) at the

(WSWA) Conference, held in Las Vegas from April 2 to 5, 2012. Antiquity Blue Rare Premium was launched in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

on 11 May 2007, which at the time was the most expensive Indian made whisky.

Market presence

The brand's main national competitors are

Blenders Pride Blenders Pride is a brand of Indian whisky, owned by Pernod Ricard, and launched in 1995. As described in the company website, It is a blend of Indian grain spirits and imported Scotch malt. Pernod Ricard has identified Blenders Pride as the c ...

from

Pernod Ricard Pernod Ricard () is a French company best known for its anise-flavoured pastis apéritifs Pernod Anise and Ricard Pastis (often referred to simply as ''Pernod'' or ''Ricard''). The world’s second-largest wine and spirits seller, it also produ ...

and

Peter Scot Peter Scot is a brand of Indian whisky, manufactured by Khoday India Limited (KIL), and launched in May 1968. It is a flagship brand of the company and is manufactured at their Bangalore facility. In ''Khoday Distilleries Limited vs. The Scotch W ...

from Khoday India Limited, as well as competition from other USL whiskies in the same price range such as

Royal Challenge Royal Challenge, commonly referred to by the abbreviation RC, is a brand of Indian whisky, manufactured by United Spirits Ltd (USL), a Diageo Group company. It was launched in the early 1980s. According to Binod K. Maitin, a United Breweries te ...

and

Signature A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a handwritten (and often stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and intent. The writer of a ...

. In some states, Antiquity also competes with Haig Gold Label from

Diageo Diageo plc () is a Multinational corporation, multinational alcoholic beverage company, with its headquarters in London, England. It operates from 132 sites around the world. It was the world's largest distiller before being overtaken by Kweich ...

and Rockford Reserve fro
Modi Illva
Antiquity Rare Premium whisky saw 50% growth in sales for the year-ended 30 June 1998, over 1996-97. The brand held a market share of 44% in the premium whisky segment of the Indian market, with another USL (then SWC) brand Royal Challenge grabbing 49% of market share. Antiquity and

Seagram The Seagram Company Ltd. (which traded as Seagram's) was a Canadian multinational conglomerate formerly headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. Originally a distiller of Canadian whisky based in Waterloo, Ontario, it was once (in the 1990s) the lar ...

's Blenders Pride were the highest selling whisky brands in the super-premium

Indian Made Foreign Liquor Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) is the official term used by governments, businesses and media in India to refer to all types of liquor manufactured in the country other than indigenous alcoholic beverages such as feni, toddy, arrack and othe ...

(IMFL) category in 2002-03. On 2 February 2005, Shaw Wallace stated that Antiquity Rare Premium whisky had a growth in sales of 40% over the previous year.

Brand ambassadors

In April/May 2012, American United Beer & Spirits signed Indian model and television personality Nina Manuel to represent Antiquity whisky in the US.

References

External links

USL official site

USL site Antiquity page

UB Group official site
{{portalbar, Liquor Indian whisky Alcoholic drink brands Products introduced in 1992 United Spirits brands