Born in the wild, poured in the pub: How a humble fence weed became India’s hot new spirit

A plant once seen as a farm weed is helping build a premium spirits industry in India. Long used as live fencing in arid regions, agave is opening a new source of income for rural communities and attracting entrepreneurs who see it as the country’s next premium alcohol category, according to a BBC report.

For Andhra Pradesh farmer Masapalli Venkatesh, agave was long ignored. Growing naturally around fields on the dry Deccan Plateau, it was mainly used to keep animals away. That changed in 2010, when traders began buying agave americana, a cactus-like plant from the same family as the blue agave used to make tequila and mezcal. With the global tequila and mezcal market moving towards $15 billion, India is trying to build its own presence.

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Unlike Mexico, where blue agave is grown on large plantations, India’s young industry depends largely on wild agave spread across Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh. For farmers such as Venkatesh, the plant has become a premium commodity. "By combining the yields of multiple farms, I ensure a steady, high-volume supply that distilleries are willing to pay a premium for," he told the BBC.

The value of agave lies in its core, or piña, which contains the sugars needed for distillation. Timing is critical. Rakshay Dhariwal, founder and managing director of Maya Pistola Agavepura, said harvesters must cut the plant in a narrow pre-bloom window, before sugars move into the stalk. After harvest, piñas must reach processing facilities within 24 hours to prevent spoilage.

Because agave grows in scattered patches rather than organised farms, producers depend on local aggregators to find, negotiate for and harvest plants. Dhariwal said the market is growing 31% a year as urban consumers show more interest in premium and experimental drinks.

Vikram Achanta, co-founder of 30 Best Bars India, said India had "finally caught the tequila bug". He said whisky remained dominant, but agave-based drinks were finding a niche as consumers became more open to new spirits and producers began experimenting more seriously with the category.

Among the early players is Desmond Nazareth, founder of Agave India, who launched the country’s first homegrown agave spirit in 2011. He said the business emerged after nearly 12 years of research and experimentation. Nazareth is now using satellite mapping to identify new cultivation zones, saying a wrong planting decision can cost growers a decade because agave takes 9-13 years to mature.

Agricultural expert Miguel Braganza said raw material supply is not yet a bottleneck because the domestic industry is still small, with only one active agave-heart processing facility, and the plant is naturally resilient and self-multiplying.

The bigger challenge is consistency. Sree Harsha Vadlamudi, co-founder of tequila brand Loca Loka, said reliance on wild plants leads to uneven sugar yields and changing alcohol output, making standardised production difficult. He said Mexico dealt with this over decades through selective breeding.

Vadlamudi said his company sources raw material from Jalisco in Mexico, citing its soil and stronger use of agritech, including drones to track crop health and harvest timing. Even so, the sector is drawing interest from farmers, distillers and investors. Nazareth said India could become a major agave economy, with the Deccan Plateau offering millions of acres suitable for cultivation.