Old Monk: An Indian Pride

At some point in our lives, we all have had at least an Old Monk moment where we bonded with our friends, family, or colleagues while taking sips of the divine made-in India rum. The vanilla-infused bittersweet spirit was established in 1855.Read on to find out all about Indian’s ‘national drink of India’.

Founded by the colonisers

Old Monk’s history is rooted in British ruled India. This part can be easily assumed as the drink started first manufacturing before 1947 and during that time only the English masters took charge of creating things. The fact that will leave you gasping is the that it was started by a man named Edward Abraham Dyer, father of Reginald Dyer, commonly known as General Dyer , who carried out the most gruesome incident in our history, the Jalianwala Bagh massacre in 1919.Before the Old Monk came into existed senior Dyer founded Asia’s first beer named ‘Lion’.

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The Indian rebranding

The man we should really be thanking for Old Monk was Ved Rattan Mohan who introduced the spiced infused rum called Old Monk in 1954. After India got independence, Mohan’s father Narendra Nath Mohan had taken ownership of the Mohan Meakin Brewery in 1949. Old Monk was entirely Ved Rattan Mohan’s creation as it was a product of his travel wisdom. When Mohan returned from Europe, he made rum which was aged in oak barrels for seven years. Mohan in 45 years of his short life served in the Indian army became the Rajya Sabha MP and earned one of the highest national honour, Padma Shree award in 1973.After Ved Rattan Mohan, his brother Kapila Mohan took charge of the company.

Have you tried all types of Old Monk? Oh yes, there are many

Old Monk and coke is a classic concoction but did you know that Old Monk comes in flavours too? Starting from orange, cola, lemon and mojito, Old Monk comes in different flavours. These introduced in Old Monk’s new line of drink under the name ‘The Connoisseur Collection’. Although these haven’t really taken off yet as these flavours are only available in Mumbai, Pune and Karnataka. If you are still cancelling Goa trips with your friends, you might want to get serious after we tell you about the Old Monk 10000 beer only available in Goa. This beer with 8% alcohol content will prove to be one of the highlights of your Goa vacations.

From the August 2020 issue of FHM India.