Problems are opportunities. Few journeys illustrate this philosophy as compellingly as that of Chandramohan Nallur, Founder of Malayali Spirits.
Listen to the whole conversation here on Spotify, Apple.
What began as a logistical puzzle in Warsaw—involving five tons of stranded Indian rice flakes during a geopolitical conflict—has transformed into one of the fastest-growing international beverage brands originating out of Central Europe. Today, Malayali Spirits operates across 30 international markets, produces over 200,000 liters per month across partner breweries in five countries, and boasts World Beer Award titles alongside shelf placements in 267 hypermarkets across the Middle East.
In a candid conversation on PAC Talks, Chandramohan Nallur sat down to share the remarkable story behind Malayali Spirits, their asset-light growth model, and why he firmly believes an Indian-inspired brand can conquer the global stage. The conversation covers the ease of starting a business in Poland, journey of Malayali Spirits, influence of malayalam movie in the brand elements and naming of brands, supporting the community, etc.
Chandramohan’s journey in Poland started long before the first bottle of beer was brewed. In 2012, while working in Spain for telecom operator Lyca mobile, he was unexpectedly posted to Poland to launch their Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) business.
“I was a student based out of Spain, and then after studying I got to work with a company called Lyca mobile. Out of the blue, they sent me to Poland to launch the company in 2012. That’s how I landed in Poland to launch an MVNO over here,”Chandramohan recalls.
Over the next 14 years, Chandramohan witnessed Poland’s dramatic economic transition firsthand—from the infrastructure boom surrounding Euro 2012 to its emergence as one of Europe’s most dynamic market economies. Alongside his corporate career, Chandramohan served as Director of Business Relations at the Indo-Polish Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IPCCI), facilitating bilateral trade between Indian firms and European markets.
It was through his work at IPCCI that destiny intervened in the form of a stranded shipment.
A client from Varanasi, India exporting rice flakes (poha) to an African buyer in Warsaw faced a severe crisis when the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out in early 2022. With shipments stuck near Hamburg and currency exchange rates fluctuating wildly between the U.S. Dollar and the Polish Zloty, the buyer forfeited their advance, leaving five tons of premium Indian rice flakes stranded in Europe.
Returning the cargo to India was cost-prohibitive and risked licensing complications. Drawing inspiration from earlier diaspora beverage pioneers—such as Palakkad-inspired Komban beer in the UK and Kalikut 1498 launched in Poland by a fellow Malayali entrepreneur—Chandramohan explored whether the rice flakes could be used as an adjunct ingredient in beer brewing.
“We had spoken to a few restaurants who were close friends of ours, clearly explained to them the whole situation, and based on that we produced batches of beer… it’s a crisis and opportunity relationship—it was kind of pivoting to a different one.”
Partnering with local Polish craft breweries, they substituted a portion of traditional grains with Indian rice flakes. The pilot batches were delivered to close friends running Indian restaurants in Warsaw, including Arun’s renowned “India” restaurant.
The diner response was immediate and surprising. Customers noted that the rice-flake infusion produced an exceptionally smooth, crisp lager that paired effortlessly with spiced Indian food without causing the heavy bloating associated with traditional commercial lagers. As Chandramohan notes:
“The difference what consumers told him is like there is no bloating while having this with the Indian food… and also it’s super light compared to the rest of the beers in the market.”
Decoding the Brand: From ‘Heineken’ Parity to Pop-Culture Storytelling
Realising the commercial potential of their unique recipe, Chandramohan decided to formalise the venture. However, rather than positioning it strictly as a niche restaurant beer, he envisioned a brand capable of standing alongside global heavyweights like Heineken and Carlsberg on international supermarket shelves.
To craft a world-class brand identity, Chandramohan brought in co-founder Sargheve Sukumaran, an experienced designer and former Samsung creative specialist.
To appeal to European consumers while honouring their heritage, the brand adopted a clever strategy. While the name “Malayali”carries deep emotional resonance for the Keralite diaspora, to European consumers reading the label, it sounded like an exotic, high-end European brand name:
“In Poland there are hardly Malayalis—it’s hardly 4,000 of them in the whole 40 million population. What people don’t see is only Indians know what a Malayali means. For a European reading Malayali is like reading Heineken. So we got that freedom to be in every restaurant or any restaurant, not specifically the Indian restaurant space.”
Chandramohan was adamant about avoiding narrow regional categorisation in global retail:
“Nobody says that Heineken is a Dutch beer, nobody says Carlsberg is Danish—it’s an international lager. So we wanted Malayali to be that international lager, India-inspired.”
To spark organic word-of-mouth curiosity, the founders printed the famous Malayalam cinematic catchphrase “Sadanam Kayyil Undo?” (“Do you have the goods?”)from the movie Akkare Akkare Akkare on their packaging, alongside QR codes linking directly to Incredible India and Kerala Tourism portals.
“We put ‘Sadanam Kayyil Undo’ on all products because when we enter the market, why would somebody relate it to India? Usually, other brands write their name in a Hindi font. We wanted to show that there is something more than Hindi in India. It made people curious… Restaurant staff were asked at least 10 times a day what it meant, so we got free marketing that 10 people knew about the brand!”
Crafting the Portfolio: Quality, Strong Beer, and the 267-Store GCC Breakthrough
From a single pilot brew, Malayali Spirits has expanded into a comprehensive portfolio spanning flagship lagers, strong brews, non-alcoholic malt options, and functional hydration drinks.
In India as of now, Malayali Spirits is available at the Cochin Airport and will be soon launched in more airports.
“Our beer is sold at the Cochin airport. We do one-third of the entire Cochin airport business! One reason is curiosity, second is quality. People like it… We are in no rush to be number one in every single thing, but we want to be the repeated choice. We look at quality over quantity.”
The GCC Breakthrough with Lulu Group:
Their expansion into the Middle East received a massive boost through a direct interaction with Yusuff Ali M.A., Chairman of Lulu Group. Because Lulu hypermarkets do not stock alcoholic beverages, Mr. Yusuff Ali challenged the founders to engineer a true 0.0% non-alcoholic brew.
“When Mr. Yusuff Ali of Lulu visited Poland, he saw the product… He was the one who asked, ‘Why don’t you guys do a pure zero? If you can do zero, then we’ll definitely support you in keeping it in Lulu.’ It took around 7 to 8 months to get it done, but we finally cracked it—we got a 0.0% malt beverage, tested it in Saudi and Qatar, got the certifications, and he kept his word. Now we are in Lulu in 267 stores all across GCC.”
In evaluating the Middle Eastern non-alcoholic beverage market, Chandramohan identified established incumbent brands such as Barbican, Holsten, and Moussy. He noted that these competitor brands focus primarily on fruit-flavoured malt drinks (such as strawberry or apple) because their primary target demographic in the region is women and children. Adult male consumers in the Middle East generally avoided non-alcoholic malts because existing unflavoured options failed to replicate the taste of real beer. Malayali Spirits capitalised on this distinct market gap by delivering Malayali Habibi (0.0%), an unflavoured malt beverage engineered to authentically replicate the taste and mouthfeel of a classic beer, quickly becoming the top-selling classic malt non-alcoholic drink in that category.
The product’s naming also evolved specifically for the region: initial trial runs under the working title “Malayali Virgin” raised cultural sensitivity concerns in Gulf markets, prompting the pivot to Malayali Habibi (where “Habibi” has since become synonymous with ordering a zero-alcohol beer). Furthermore, observing broader Middle Eastern beverage dynamics—such as local “cola wars” where brands like Kinza gained market share and the popularity of hydration drinks like Pocari Sweat—inspired the team to develop their functional wellness drink, Adipoli.
“When you go to a bar in Europe and ask for a zero, the barman asks which one you want because everybody has a zero. When you just say ‘Habibi’, it is naturally understood as a zero. We are kind of replacing the word zero with Habibi over here.”
Functional Innovation: Adipoli
Expanding further into functional beverages, the team developed Adipoli—a lightly sparkling tropical hydration drink enriched with magnesium and B-vitamins, anticipating European regulations restricting caffeine-heavy energy drinks for minors.
“We wanted something which is not a typical energy drink with caffeine and taurine, instead a hydration drink with vitamins and magnesium without caffeine and taurine… Adipoli is basically a vitamin-magnesium drink that gives you a nostalgic taste of your childhood.”
When discussing other Indian-inspired diaspora beverage brands—such as Mandakini (arrack in Canada), Maharani (gin in Ireland), Komban (UK), and Kalikut 1498 (Poland)—Chandramohan Nallur highlights strategic principles around market education, category selection, and founder camaraderie. Early in his journey, he approached the founder of Kalikut 1498 in Poland, who supported him by connecting him with local craft breweries to test his initial rice-flake recipe. Reflecting on brands like Maharani Gin, Chandramohan notes that he respects gin as a vehicle because “you don’t need to educate the market—it’s already there in the market”. He emphasises that Malayali Spirits deliberately avoids niche product categories that require building consumer awareness from scratch or risk “cannibalising” territory already carved out by fellow Indian entrepreneurs (such as Mandakini’s arrack segment). Instead, his growth playbook focuses on competing within globally established beverage categories—such as lagers, zero-alcohol malts, and single-malt vodkas—while introducing subtle native Kerala elements like tender coconut (in Adipoli) into formats international consumers already understand.
Scaling the Asset-Light Empire & Giving Back
Building a global beverage distribution network typically demands immense capital investment in physical breweries. Malayali Spirits avoided this overhead by adopting an asset-light operational framework similar to Red Bull.
By retaining full ownership of their proprietary recipes and brewmaster standards, the company partners with nine contract breweries across five countries, enabling rapid production scaling without heavy debt.
“We have the recipe, we have the brewmaster, we set it up in breweries for us on a separate line, and then we utilise it. That’s how our whole business model works. So we are a very asset-light company like Red Bull.”
They collaborate directly with local food research institutes and universities in Poland, engaging university students at the grassroots level to handle product development, laboratory testing, and recipe refinement.
Today, the company produces approximately 60,000 cases per month in Poland alone, with overall global volume reaching 200,000 litres monthly.
After operating as a bootstrapped business for two and a half years, Malayali Spirits secured its first $1 Million seed investment in 2025 through an unexpected inbound message on LinkedIn. The company is currently in talks with global venture capital firms for its next expansion phase.
Beyond financial metrics, Chandramohan emphasises the importance of community engagement, from supporting grassroots sports teams across Europe to sponsoring the Polish National Kabaddi Team.
“More than supporting sports, it’s supporting aspirational young teams … There’s something to be given back to society, because business is not always about the balance sheets.”
Next Frontiers:
Looking ahead, Malayali Spirits is preparing to enter new product categories and geographic territories:
- Yakshi Vodka: A single-malt vodka distilled directly from their proprietary beer malt base.
- Paul Barber & Co.: A premium whiskey line named in homage to classic Malayalam cinema pop-culture trivia. Again reference is to the famous Mohanlal’s Malayalam movie, Akkare Akkare Akkare.
- Global Footprint: Expanding into Africa and entering the U.S. market with localised production lines planned in Colorado.
He concludes the interview with absolute conviction in Malayali as a brand:
“All I know from my experience… one thing which I am convinced and understand is Malayali as a brand will never fail.”
PAC Talks celebrates the creators, innovators, and entrepreneurs who prove that Passion, Attitude, and Curiosity are what truly take you places.
(Intro music credits: Anand Bhaskar Collective – Main Hoon Zameen)
Leave a Reply