In a landmark move, Nao Spirits & Beverages, the creators of Greater Than and Hapusa, have officially joined the Diageo India (United Spirits Limited) portfolio through a majority acquisition worth ₹130 crore. This transformative partnership marks a significant milestone for India’s rapidly evolving craft spirits landscape.
While the deal significantly boosts Nao Spirits’ growth trajectory—with Diageo increasing its stake from 30% to 97.07%—the brand’s core remains unchanged. Founders Anand Virmani, Aparajita Ninan, and Vaibhav Singh, along with Abhinav Rajput, will continue to steer Nao’s creative direction, ensuring the brand stays rooted in its original purpose: to make Indian gin matter globally.
Founded in 2017, Nao Spirits emerged from a bold ambition: to create India’s first truly craft gin brand. Operating out of a modest distillery in Goa, the team launched Greater Than, India’s first London Dry Gin, and Hapusa, the world’s first Himalayan Dry Gin, crafted with indigenous botanicals and wild juniper.
Nao’s name itself reflects its ethos: derived from “boat” in Portuguese, it nods to Goa’s colonial trading legacy while also evoking a contemporary spirit of “now.” The brand’s DNA has always been about reimagining tradition, with a blend of global technique and local soul.
Over the years Nao Spirits has launched a series of bold, limited-edition gins that have consistently challenged convention and captured imaginations: from Juniper Bomb (2020), a happy accident that led to thrice the juniper intensity, to No Sleep (2021), India’s first-ever coffee-infused gin; Broken Bat (2022), aged with Kashmir willow cricket bats; and Punk Gin (2023), a rebellious, naturally pink gin infused with real Mahabaleshwar strawberries. Each release is a fearless love letter to Indian terroir and creativity, proving that gin can be as expressive, experimental, and rooted in culture as any other spirit.
Nao Spirits’ success isn’t just in the distillery, it’s in the ecosystem they’ve cultivated. Whether through Bar Wars (India’s first team-based hospitality competition), the Forager’s Championship (an international cocktail competition linking India, the UK, and Italy), or Crashing Greater (community workshops and guided tastings), Nao has consistently championed a cultural movement around Indian spirits.
Their latest innovation, MTW (Make This Work), a gin lab-meets-bar inside their Goa office, invites fans and bartenders alike into the process of ideation, experimentation, and collaboration.
Despite the acquisition, Diageo’s support is amplifying, not altering, the Nao Spirits ethos. With robust backing, better distribution, and production muscle, the brand now has the potential to scale sustainably, without losing its soul.
“We started with a copper still named Agotha and a dream to make India proud,” said Anand Virmani, Co-Founder & CEO. “This next chapter gives us a chance to grow the culture we’ve helped shape, with greater reach, but the same purpose and belief: that modern Indian spirits deserve a place on the world stage.”
