Indian rum enters a new global league as Camikara tops major international competitions
Camikara 8 Year Old secured the highest distinction at the Global Rum and Cachaça Masters Awards 2026, while Shalini Sharma, Head of Marketing, Piccadily Agro Industries Limited, said the recognition reflects a shift in how Indian spirits are being viewed internationally.
India’s premium spirits story, long associated in recent years with the rise of single malt whisky, is beginning to widen into rum, with Camikara emerging as a new marker of that shift.
Camikara, described by the company as India’s first pure cane juice aged rum, has secured top honours at two major international rum competitions, adding fresh momentum to India’s place in the premium rum category. At the Global Rum and Cachaça Masters Awards 2026 in the United Kingdom, Camikara 8 Year Old received the Master Medal, the competition’s highest distinction. In the same competition, Camikara 3 Year Old secured its second consecutive Gold Medal, making Camikara the only Indian rum to win both Master and Gold in the same year.
The brand’s recognition continued in the United States at The Fifty Best. In the Aged Rum category tasting, Camikara 8YO received a Double Gold Medal, while Camikara 3YO secured Gold in the International Blend category. Together, the results place the brand among a small group of rums recognised by judging panels in both the United Kingdom and the United States.
The development marks a notable moment for Indian rum, a category that has traditionally remained outside the global premium rum conversation despite India’s deep connection with sugarcane cultivation. For decades, premium rum narratives were shaped largely by the Caribbean and Latin America, while India, despite being one of the world’s largest sugarcane producers, was not seen as a central player in that segment.
Shalini Sharma, Head of Marketing, Piccadily Agro Industries Limited, said, “For a country with such a long and complex relationship with sugarcane, this moment carries deep historical resonance. References to fermented cane beverages appear in ancient Indian texts, yet for decades modern Indian rum was largely associated with industrial-scale production rather than artisanal craft. What we are witnessing now is a shift in that perception. With global judging panels recognising the quality and character of what we are producing, Camikara is helping reshape how Indian spirits are viewed internationally, not as volume products, but as expressions of terroir, tradition and technical excellence.”
According to the company, Camikara’s production approach is central to its identity. Unlike many rums made from molasses or altered through post distillation additives, Camikara is crafted from fresh sugarcane juice harvested within 36 hours, a process intended to preserve the natural character of the cane. The spirit is then aged in American oak barrels in North India’s subtropical climate, where temperature variation is said to accelerate maturation and deepen interaction between wood and spirit.
The company said this production style gives the rum a profile shaped by India’s own geography, climate and sugarcane heritage rather than by an attempt to replicate more established Caribbean styles. The recognition, it suggested, points to a broader shift in how Indian rum is being evaluated in global premium spirits conversations.
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