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The Blonde Ambition: India Cocktail Week Comes of Age I've always been slightly suspicious of festivals. They promise much, deliver chaos, and leave you wondering why you paid good money to stand in queues while nursing a warm drink in a plastic glass. So when the invitation to India Cocktail Week 2025 arrived, I'll confess I was skeptical. Another drinks jamboree? Another excuse for brands to flog their wares while claiming to celebrate "craft" and "culture"? I was wrong. Completely, utterly wrong. The New India of Drinking India Cocktail Week—which I caught in its Gurugram avatar, though it also descended upon Bengaluru—is not just another booze fest. It's a statement. A declaration that India has finally, definitively, grown up when it comes to cocktail culture. Gone are the days when a "cocktail" meant something lurid and sweet that came with a paper umbrella. This is serious business, conducted by serious people who know their bitters from their botanicals. The scale alone is impressive. Over 25 brands, both global powerhouses and plucky homegrown distilleries, had set up elaborate bars. There were guest shifts from bartenders who've flown in from the world's best bars—the sort of people who can make magic with a muddler and a Boston shaker. Workshops, masterclasses, live music, food that actually complemented the drinks rather than competing with them. It was, in short, civilized drinking raised to an art form. Enter the Blonde But here's what caught my attention: Johnnie Walker Blonde. Now, before you roll your eyes and mutter something about corporate sponsorships, hear me out. I've spent decades watching whisky brands try—and mostly fail—to convince Indians that their products belong in cocktails. We're a culture that takes our whisky neat, or at most, with water and soda. The very idea of "mixing" good whisky has long been considered somewhere between eccentric and sacrilegious. Johnnie Walker Blonde changes that conversation entirely. And at ICW 2025, where it was both an official showcase brand and active participant, it made its case brilliantly.

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This post was published on 10th November, 2025 by Rahul on his Instagram handle "@rahulprabhakar (Rahul Prabhakar)". Rahul has total 64.6K followers on Instagram and has a total of 2.4K post. Rahul receives an average engagement rate of % per post on Instagram. This post has received 48 comments which are greater than the average comments that Rahul gets. Overall the engagement rate for this post was than the average for the profile.