A distillery built around its water
Ashmira Distillery is the home of VKM Liquor LLP’s spirits production in Sirmaur, Himachal Pradesh. For Vishal Kamboj, the location began with a practical question: where could he find the water he wanted, in a place with enough of it to build a distillery?
In a film introducing Ashmira, he describes finding that setting between the mountains. VKM’s own story puts mineral-rich spring water at the centre of the operation. The mountain location is part of the production story, alongside the equipment and the people working with it.
Room for more than one kind of spirit
VKM supplies malt spirit, rum, vodka and gin, and works with brands on recipe development, packaging and bottling. That range gives the distillery a different brief from a business built around one recipe: the production setup needs to support different products and different customers.
On its website, VKM describes the role of its equipment simply: “Our state-of-the-art iStill systems give us precise control over every stage of distillation”.
From malt to the barrel room
The Whiskeypedia’s tour follows the production floor from malt and milling through mashing, fermentation and distillation, then into the barrel room. The team shows its iStill fermenters and explains how agitation and temperature control support consistent fermentation.
At the still, the discussion turns to setting process parameters and cut points, and reproducing the desired product from batch to batch.
What surprised Vishal about the first results
Near the end of the tour, Vishal explains why the still looks different from the copper pot stills the presenter is used to seeing. He describes its hybrid operation and the ability to make both whisky and neutral spirits.
What stands out most is his reaction to the distillate. Vishal recalls the team being surprised by the quality and aromas they obtained in a single distillation. He also describes using gas chromatography to examine the esters in their spirits.
The conversation then returns to the barrels: the spirit going into the wood matters, alongside the maturation that follows. It is a useful glimpse into how this team evaluates its own production.
Hear it from the distiller
The film above opens at the iStill discussion, from 17:17 to 19:17. It is part of The Whiskeypedia’s distillery tour, presented in Hindi with some English technical terms.
Sources
This story draws on The Whiskeypedia’s filmed distillery tour, VKM Liquor’s website and Vishal Kamboj’s introductory Ashmira film. The tour discussion is summarised in English; the direct quotation is from VKM’s website.
