Top 10 Distilleries in Nepal
Nepal sits between China and India in the central Himalayas, and its spirits culture reflects both ancient Himalayan fermentation traditions and the influence of colonial and post-colonial trading relationships with neighbouring countries. The country's most traditional spirits are raksi — a clear distillate produced from rice, millet, or wheat, fermented with a starter culture (marcha) and distilled in simple earthen pot stills — and chhyang, a mildly fermented grain beer that is the base for raksi distillation. Tongba, a hot fermented millet drink consumed through bamboo straws directly from a wooden vessel, represents the fermentation end of the tradition; raksi its distillation extension.
Nepal's formal commercial spirits sector developed primarily through state enterprises and licensed manufacturers producing whisky, rum, vodka, and gin for the domestic market. In recent years, a small but growing craft distillery scene has emerged, drawing on the country's extraordinary botanical resources — Nepal's altitude gradient, from subtropical lowland Terai to high alpine zones above 5,000 metres, encompasses one of the greatest concentrations of aromatic plant diversity on Earth. Explore Nepal's distilleries and producers on the map, from Kathmandu Valley craft operations to the remote hill districts where traditional raksi is still produced.
1. Himalayan Distillery, Kathmandu Valley
Himalayan Distillery is Nepal's largest commercial spirits producer and the maker of the country's most widely consumed whisky, rum, and vodka brands. The distillery operates at a scale that supplies Nepal's domestic hospitality market and has developed export distribution in South Asia. The whisky production uses both imported Scotch malt spirit for blending and locally produced grain spirit, producing a range of blended whiskies positioned at different price points. While Himalayan Distillery's products are firmly in the mainstream commercial category, the company has in recent years invested in more premium expressions that reflect growing consumer aspiration in Nepal's urban middle class.
2. Khukri Rum, Kathmandu
Khukri Rum is Nepal's most recognisable spirits brand internationally and takes its name from the curved blade that is both a traditional Gurkha weapon and a national symbol of Nepal. Produced since the 1970s, Khukri Rum is a dark rum made from molasses using a combination of pot and column still distillation and aged in used oak barrels. The rum has a distinctive dark, sweet, slightly medicinal character that reflects both the molasses base and the long ageing in tropical warehouse conditions. Khukri is exported globally and is a sentimental favourite among Nepal's Gurkha diaspora communities in the United Kingdom and other countries where Gurkha regiments have historically served.
3. Ruslan Vodka, Kathmandu
Ruslan is Nepal's most successful vodka brand and one of the country's top-selling spirits by volume. Produced from grain spirit using multiple distillation and charcoal filtration processes, Ruslan has achieved the clean, neutral profile required for competitive vodka production. The brand is positioned at the affordable end of the vodka market and is widely available in Nepal's restaurants, hotels, and retail outlets. Ruslan's success reflects both the growing popularity of vodka as a spirits category among Nepal's younger urban consumers and the competitive pricing advantages of domestic production over imported equivalents in the Nepali market.
4. Old Durbar Whisky, Nepal
Old Durbar is among Nepal's most established whisky brands, produced for the domestic market and positioned as a premium domestic alternative to imported Scotch. The whisky uses blended grain spirit with a proportion of imported malt for character and complexity, following the standard South Asian blended whisky production model. Old Durbar has benefited from Durbar — meaning royal court — as a brand name that evokes Nepal's monarchical heritage and connects the product to the country's cultural identity. The brand is widely distributed across Nepal's various commercial alcohol markets and is a reference point for understanding domestic whisky consumption.
5. Mustang Craft Distillery, Pokhara, Gandaki Province
Mustang Craft Distillery is one of Nepal's pioneer craft spirits operations, established near Pokhara in the Gandaki Province with access to Himalayan spring water and high-altitude botanicals from the Annapurna and Mustang regions. The distillery produces small-batch gin using botanicals sourced from across Nepal's elevation gradient: Timur pepper (Szechuan pepper's Himalayan relative, with a distinctive citrusy, numbing character), Himalayan juniper, high-altitude thyme, and local wild herbs. The gin has attracted attention from the craft spirits community in Nepal and India as a genuine expression of Himalayan terroir in spirit form.
6. Everest Spirits, Kathmandu Valley
Everest Spirits is a Nepali craft producer that has positioned itself around the global recognition of Mount Everest as a marketing platform for premium Himalayan spirits. The distillery produces gin and vodka using glacier water sourced from Himalayan sources and botanicals gathered from altitude zones associated with the Everest region — rhododendron blossoms from the Solu-Khumbu district, juniper berries from high-altitude shrubs, and aromatic herbs used in traditional Sherpa medicine. The branding connects the spirit to Nepal's mountain identity and targets the adventure tourism market, where visitors to Nepal often seek authentically local products as souvenirs.
7. Tara Distillery, Lalitpur, Kathmandu Valley
Tara is a Kathmandu Valley craft distillery producing experimental spirits in collaboration with Nepal's growing cocktail bar scene. The distillery works with small volumes and frequent batch changes, using locally sourced ingredients including cinnamon from the Terai, dried mandarin peel from Nepal's citrus-growing districts, and various Ayurvedic herbs to produce gins, liqueurs, and aged spirits. The operation is as much a research and development project as a commercial endeavour, and its products are distributed primarily through Kathmandu's high-end hotels and restaurant bars where mixologists are building Nepal-specific cocktail menus.
8. Traditional Raksi Producers, Newari Communities, Kathmandu Valley
Raksi production among the Newari communities of the Kathmandu Valley represents one of Asia's most intact traditional urban distillation cultures. Newari raksi, made from fermented rice using a clay pot still arrangement, is produced for local consumption and for ceremonial use in Newari Buddhist and Hindu rites. The production is technically unlicensed but informally tolerated as part of cultural heritage, and traditional raksi is served at Newari festivals and family celebrations. For visitors to Kathmandu who are willing to seek it out — typically in Newari neighbourhood restaurants known as bhattis — traditional raksi provides an irreplaceable encounter with the ancient foundations of Himalayan spirits culture.
9. Gorkha Brewery and Spirits, Kathmandu
Gorkha Brewery, Nepal's most established beer brand, has extended into spirits production through a licensed distillery operation that produces whisky, rum, and gin for the domestic market. The spirits are positioned to complement the brewery's beer brand identity and target the same mainstream Nepali consumer. Gorkha Brewery spirits are distributed through the same off-licence and hospitality channels as the beer and benefit from the brand recognition that the brewery has built over decades. While not competing in the premium or craft segment, Gorkha spirits play an important role in Nepal's formal commercial alcohol sector.
10. Timur Gin, Various Craft Producers, Nepal
Timur pepper (Zanthoxylum armatum) deserves separate acknowledgment as a botanical that is rapidly becoming the defining ingredient of Nepali craft gin. Sometimes called Nepalese pepper or Himalayan Szechuan pepper, Timur is not a true pepper but a member of the Rutaceae family with a distinctive aroma of grapefruit zest and a mild numbing effect on the palate similar to Chinese Szechuan pepper. Several Nepali craft producers and Indian gin makers with Nepal-sourced ingredients have incorporated Timur as a central botanical, and the resulting gins have attracted international attention as examples of genuine South Asian terroir in a spirit. Timur gin is becoming a signature Nepali craft spirits category in its own right.