Bagpiper 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 ...

, 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 its ...

(USL), a Diageo Group company, and launched in October 1976. Bagpiper is sold in a square bottle with black and gold packaging design. The company describes the whisky's flavour as "a light malty aroma and a hint of a smooth woody character, owing to the use of malt spirits specifically matured in pre-identified American

oak An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' (; Latin "oak tree") of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 500 extant species of oaks. The common name "oak" also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably ''L ...

cask A barrel or cask is a hollow cylindrical container with a bulging center, longer than it is wide. They are traditionally made of wooden staves and bound by wooden or metal hoops. The word vat is often used for large containers for liquids, u ...

s".Whisky – Antiquity, Bagpiper, and Mc Dowell's No 1, Royal Challenges, Signature
. Unitedspirits.in. Retrieved on 2013-12-23. It is similar to a

blended whisky A blended whiskey (or blended whisky) is the product of blending different types of whiskeys and sometimes also neutral grain spirits, colorings, and flavorings. It is generally the product of mixing one or more higher-quality straight or single ...

flavored with

pot still A pot still is a type of distillation apparatus or still used to distill liquors such as whisky or brandy. In modern (post-1850s) practice, they are not used to produce rectified spirit, because they do not separate congeners from ethanol as eff ...

malt whisky Malt whisky is whisky made from a fermented mash consisting primarily of malted barley. If the product is made exclusively at a single distillery (along with other restrictions), it is typically called a single malt whisky. Although malt whisky ca ...

, but the

neutral spirits 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 countr ...

used as base are distilled from

molasses Molasses () is a viscous substance resulting from refining sugarcane or sugar beets into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, method of extraction and age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is primarily used to sweeten and flavour foods ...

instead of

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

. The brand uses tamper-proof bottles. It also introduced whisky in

Tetra Pak Tetra Pak is a Swedish–Swiss multinational food packaging and processing company with head offices in Lund, Sweden, and Pully, Switzerland. The company offers packaging, filling machines and processing for dairy, beverages, cheese, ice cream ...

. Bagpiper was the seventh largest selling spirits brand by volume in 2010, according to London-based liquor research firm International Wine & Spirit Research (IWSR). The brand sold 16.92 million cases of 9 litres each that year. It was ranked ninth in the 2009.McDowell's No.1 is World's No. 10 among biggest global spirits brands by volume – Economic Times
Articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com (2011-07-15). Retrieved on 2013-12-23. Bagpiper is exported to ten countries, including those in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

History

Bagpiper was launched in 1976 by Herbertsons Limited, which had been acquired by the United Breweries Group in 1973. Herbertsons Limited was merged with several other UB Group-owned companies to form United Spirits Limited in 2006. In 1993, with

Dharmendra Dharam Singh Deol (born 8 December 1935), also known mononymously as Dharmendra, is an Indian actor, producer and politician who is known for his work in Hindi films. Known as the first " He-Man" of Bollywood, Dharmendra has worked in over 301 ...

brand ambassador A brand ambassador (sometimes also called a corporate ambassador) is a person engaged by an organization or company to represent its brand in a positive light, helping to increase brand awareness and sales. The brand ambassador is meant to embod ...

, the brand introduced the slogan of "''Khoob Jamega Rang Jab Mil Bhaitenge Teen Yaar. Aap, Mein Aur Bagpiper''", and the company continues to use the slogan in its advertising. Bagpiper has had several

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

stars as brand ambassadors including

Ashok Kumar Kumudlal Ganguly (13 October 1911 – 10 December 2001), better known by his stage name Ashok Kumar and also by Dadamoni, was an Indian actor who attained iconic status in Indian cinema and who was a member of the cinematic Ganguly family. He ...

Jackie Shroff Jaikishan Kakubhai Shroff (born 1 February 1957), popularly known as Jackie Shroff, is an Indian actor and former model. He has been in the Bollywood industry for over four decades, and , has appeared in over 220 films in 13 languages namely Hi ...

, Dharmendra,

Sunny Deol Ajay Singh Deol (born 19 October 1956), better known by his stage name Sunny Deol, is an Indian actor, film director, producer, politician and current Member of Parliament from Gurdaspur (Lok Sabha constituency) of Punjab, India. As an actor, ...

Shahrukh Khan Shah Rukh Khan (; born 2 November 1965), also known by the initialism SRK, is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who works in Hindi films. Referred to in the media as the " Baadshah of Bollywood", "King of Bollywood" ...

and

Ajay Devgn Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director and producer who works in Hindi cinema. Devgn has appeared in over a hundred films and has won numerous accolades, including four ...

. Bagpiper was India's largest selling whisky from 2005 until 2010, when it was overtaken by

Officer's Choice Officer's Choice, commonly known as OC, is an Indian whisky brand which is owned by Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD), formerly BDA. It is considered to be one of the largest spirit brands in the world. In 2015 Officer's Choice overtook Smirnoff ...

, which is manufactured by Allied Blenders & Distillers (ABD).

Sales

Bagpiper whisky advertisement in Pondicherry

* 1987: Annual sales of 1 million cases * 1991: Annual sales of 2 million cases * 1993: Annual sales of 3 million cases * 1996: Annual sales of 4 million cases * 1998: Annual sales of 5 million cases * 2003: Annual sales of 6 million cases * 2005: Becomes India's largest selling whisky * 2006: Annual sales of 10 million cases * 2008: Annual sales of 15.4 million casesIndian Whisky Brand Champions 2013
Thespiritsbusiness.com (2013-07-08). Retrieved on 2013-12-23. * 2009: Annual sales of 16.3 million cases. * 2010: Annual sales of 16.4 million cases. * 2011: Annual sales of 15.8 million cases. * 2012: Annual sales of 14 million cases.

References

Indian whisky Products introduced in 1976 Alcoholic drink brands United Spirits brands {{distilled-drink-stub