Quro: India's First Authentic Liqueur Crafted with 36 Indigenous Ingredients from Goa

In the already flourishing landscape of Indian spirits, where international brands have long dominated the premium segment, a homegrown liqueur is making waves with its bold approach to flavour and authenticity. Quro, launched in December 2024 at Goa's Serendipity Arts Festival, represents a groundbreaking entry into India's liqueur market, positioning itself as the country's first authentic liqueur that celebrates indigenous ingredients and flavours.

Founded by Anmoll Bansal, a Kanpur-born entrepreneur with a diverse background spanning cleantech and family business, Quro emerged from a year-long research and development journey that began in August 2023. "The reason why we chose liqueur was because the kind of differentiation that you can provide in a liqueur is more as compared to any other spirit," explains Bansal. "With liqueurs, you can really experiment, and that is something which is really close to my heart."

Bansal's approach to creating Quro was intentionally disruptive. Rather than following established flavour profiles or benchmarking against existing products, he instructed his distiller to create something entirely new. "My briefing to my distiller was that it should be a new flavour profile altogether," he shares. "I want half the people to love it and half the people to have opinions about its flavour profile and taste."

Made of 36 Indigenous Ingredients

What sets Quro apart is its complex composition of 36 carefully selected ingredients sourced from across India, chosen from an extensive testing process involving over 200 different components. The liqueur celebrates India's botanical diversity through a harmonious blend of fruits, flowers, spices, and herbs from different regions across India.

The fruit component includes oranges, grapefruit, and amla, while the floral notes come from hibiscus and moringa. The spice profile features familiar Indian kitchen staples like cinnamon and cardamom. Perhaps most intriguingly, the signature bitterness that defines Quro's finish comes from Ashwagandha and Haritaki (Myrobalan)–traditional Ayurvedic herbs that add complexity and depth to the flavour profile. "When you taste Quro, you get citrus, you get herbs, you get spices, you get there's like a sweet velvety liquid, and then it's a lingering bitterness towards the end," describes Anmoll. "So it's a very rounded flavour, and that was the whole motto behind choosing a liqueur, rather than any other spirit."

The Making Process

The creation of Quro is a meticulous two-week process that begins with sourcing ingredients from Goa and southern India. Some ingredients are pot-distilled using copper pot stills, while others undergo maceration (a process that involves soaking ingredients in alcohol to extract flavours), aromas and infusion processes. The liquid then rests in steel tanks for approximately 10 days, allowing the flavours and colours to develop fully before final filtration.

This careful approach to production reflects Anmoll’s commitment to quality and authenticity, ensuring that each bottle represents the diverse flavours of India in their purest form. Since its launch, Quro has garnered positive attention both domestically and internationally. The brand has secured export orders from Nepal and the UK, demonstrating a global appetite for authentic Indian spirits. Domestically, expansion plans are underway for Karnataka and Haryana markets, driven by consumer demand and inquiries. "We've reached a point where most of the people I meet in Goa know about the brand, have tried the brand, like the brand," notes the founder, highlighting the product's success in its home market.

As Quro continues to educate consumers about this new flavour profile, the brand is developing sugar-free and zero-proof variants to cater to evolving consumer preferences. With its versatility – enjoyed as shots, spritzers, or cocktail bases – Quro is carving out a unique space in India's evolving spirits landscape.

“In positioning itself as 'India's first authentic liqueur,' Quro represents more than just another spirit brand; it embodies a celebration of Indian botanical heritage and a bold step toward creating distinctly Indian flavours for the global palate,” notes Anmoll.