User:Moonshine Meads/sandbox

'''Moonshine Meadery is Asia’s first meadery that brings back the elixir of the Gods - Mead - in refreshing modern avatars.

Founded with the vision of reinventing the world's oldest alcoholic beverage, Moonshine is the brainchild of the best friend duo, Nitin Vishwas and Rohan Rehani. What started as a garage project in 2014, has grown into India’s first meadery that creates its meads by fermenting ethically-sourced, pure honey with various fruits and spices, making it a 100% natural and flavourful beverage. With a sweetness similar to a typical wheat beer, mead contains the goodness of pure honey which, at Moonshine, is sourced as much as possible, directly from beekeepers from different parts of the country.

In quest of pure and fine quality honey for its meads, the brand launched 'The Moonshine Honey Project' which uses a unique ‘Hive to Table’ approach. Through this project, they procure and sell various types of pure, honey - Sidr Honey, Acacia Honey and Mustard Honey, to name a few.

History
While Nitin had over 15 years of experience across multiple sectors such as healthcare, foods, hi-tech, manufacturing and infrastructure, Rohan’s expertise lay in core manufacturing and M&A. In 2014, eager to leave their corporate lives, and with the desire to give back to the environment, they stumbled upon meads in an in-flight magazine. Not long after that, Nitin and Rohan decided to introduce the drink of the Vikings to India, giving the country and the Asian continent a new category in the alco-bev sector. The lack of flavourful alcohol in the country motivated them to build Moonshine into more than just a brand. Although Moonshine’s humble beginnings can be traced back to a garage project in 2016, today, Moonshine has grown massively bagging various milestones, being only one of the sister brands the co-founders own.

Ronin Wines Pvt. Ltd., the mother company houses the brands - Moonshine, Moonshine Honey Project, Māti (a premium, still variant of mead, with honey sourced directly from the tribal regions of India) and Portside. Ronin Wines continues to explore new avenues to aid its mission - increasing the consumption of honey in India, thereby improving agriculture.

Brand
Having tinkered with brewing for years at home, Rohan and Nitin gradually progressed toward a small-scale operation limited to their circle, to finally starting their own brand. The early days of their garage project inspired the nomenclature of the brand, and thus Moonshine was born, owing to the clandestine nature of their journey.

The strategy of the brand design was thoughtful and collaborative at its core. With the moon as their symbol, and the wordmark under it, their brand logo was quite minimal. The moon represented the oldest shape known to mankind, a circle, which in turn complemented the nature of the drink, tying it all together.

Moonshine strives to bring art to the forefront, integrating it into its culture. Be it collaborating with renowned as well as upcoming artists on their label designs for new variants, or hosting IPs such as the ‘Moonshine Spotlight’, quite literally throwing the spotlight on budding artists in India.

Moonshine has been carving out a niche market in the subcontinent for mead enthusiasts by collaborating with brands that embody the value of craft and sustainability. In tune with its mission, Moonshine has been creating waves of changes in the entire FnB sector, inspiring brands to do more harm than good, with honey now at the forefront of their developments. Despite being a rather small team, everyone at Moonshine has translated the zeal of spreading the love for mead, adapting to guerilla marketing techniques and old-fashioned ways of sampling the product. Their appearance on Shark Tank resulted in Moonshine being a popular beverage of choice amongst the millennials of the country.

The aim of Moonshine is to provide better experiences to everyone who welcomes it. Inviting artists from all over the country to partake in designing the Grilled Pineapple label, not only promotes art but stands for a culture of doing better. Having expanded to various geographies in India, the brand now is gracing new territories - UAE, Australia and soon the UK!

Funding
Moonshine has raised close to $2 million in the past 5 years. The fundraising predominantly in the early days was generated by friends and family, but over the years, they have attained the support of various renowned names in the industry and beyond.