Easy Tiger: Gautom Menon (right) wants to take his brand global in travel retail.

Wild Tiger is set to go on board budget airline, Tigerair, from July opening up the inflight duty free and travel retail channel for the Indian-made premium dark rum. This is also the first time an Indian beverage brand is available for on-board sales internationally, claims the Kerala-based company.

Wild Tiger Special Reserve Rum will be available on all routes operated by the Singapore-headquartered carrier and follows the product’s successful trade launch in the UK last November, official launch in UAE markets, as well as entry to DF&TR stores at Bangalore and Mumbai airports. It will retail at $23 on Tigerair.

The brand was created by Indian drinks entrepreneur, Gautom Menon, and is India’s first rum to be produced from a blend of molasses and cane juice, giving it aromatic notes and flavour depth. The bottle is distinctive as it is wrapped in a tiger-print jacket, no two being the same. This unique packaging won it a special prize at the Indspirit awards held recently in Delhi, the Indian capital.

Menon says of the Tigerair deal: “We believe the connection is ideal given the similar imagery both our brands have in common. Passengers on Tigerair Singapore now have a great option for not just a unique rum label, but also to get their hands on a great collectors or gifting item. We are starting our inflight sales journey with Tigerair before other leading carriers in Europe and Asia.”

As a part of its core CSR policy, Wild Tiger donates 10% of profits towards Tiger Conservation in South India where the brand has started a non-profit entity called WTF (Wild Tiger Foundation) which works with other established wildlife establishments on the ground and with prominent tiger experts to save the species and its habitat.