By James Atkinson
The global profile of Bulldog Gin has received a significant boost from a new international distribution deal with Gruppo Campari, according to Bulldog Gin founder Anshuman Vohra (pictured).
Campari picked up the global distribution rights for Bulldog Gin late last year, with a call option to acquire the brand in 2020.
In Australia this month on his first major promotional visit, Vohra said that when he established Bulldog Gin in 2006, he sought to challenge the conventional wisdom that gin is for elderly consumers.
“Bulldog Gin has a spirit of defiance. We have a dark bottle, everything we’ve done has set out to be different,” he said.
“I didn’t want to come out with another gin that was Victorian, high strength alcohol and targeted at grandfathers – that part of the gin category is saturated.”
Vohra said another thing that differentiates Bulldog from its competitors is that it sources all its botanicals from the same place every year to ensure consistency.
“Some of the other brands buy their juniper from Italy one year, from Macedonia the next, then from Spain. We will always get ours from Tuscany, that’s never going to change,” he said.
L-R: Dominic Carnevale with Anshuman Vohra
Vohra said he was blown away by Australian bartenders’ skills at the Bulldog Cocktail Challenge, hosted by Campari Australia last week at Assembly Bar in Sydney.
“People always say New York and London are the hotbeds of mixology, but I beg to differ,” he said.
Anshuman formed part of the judging panel, along with Campari Australia national brand ambassador Oliver Stuart and Time Out CEO Mike Rodrigues.
The winning cocktail 'Dorset Old Tyme Fizz’, a take on the classic cocktail ‘New Orleans Fizz’ was created by Dominic Carnevale from Neighbourhood Bar, Bondi Beach.