Hit the ji-spot

Itrsquos because my name doesnrsquot sound Indian So Desmondji sounds funnyrdquo were the words coming from the other end of the phone from Goa in a deep rich baritone ldquoPlus like how all the famous brands get shortened mdash Kingfisher for KF Jack Daniels for JD mdash I thought that Desmondji would be DJ having a fun and partylike connotation to itrdquo continued Desmond Nazareth a person who with belief and a hunch has paved his own path through the corridors of IIT Chennai software companies Temple University when he thought of filmmaking that eventually led to an open sky with Agave plants all abound Quirky illustrations by the Desmondji brand a quintessential feature of their Facebook page Pineapple punch If your curiosity is piqued as much as ours was let us tell you that the border state police between Andhra Pradesh and Goa still has a hard time understanding what the actual thing is In the end ldquobig pineapplesrdquo is the only description thatrsquos blurted out Nazareth tells us that it was a plant that he grew up with during his childhood It reentered his life when the Mumbai boy was rummaging through the shelves of several shops in the city and found no good tequila post his return from the United States While it was all about making cocktails and setting up a bar for his friends in the raindrenched Mumbai he in eight yearsrsquo time now concocts the best Agave Spirit that can only be called Tequila by the Mexicans ldquoMy life is in fact a cocktail where an Agave was just one of the ingredients but now it has become the most prominent componentrdquo chuckles the 56yearold who since 2000 looks at himself as ldquoretiredrdquo but paradoxically is sitting on ldquofive international projects that he hopes to seedfundrdquo mdash Desmondji being one of them The brand currently has three kinds of liquor for a perfect aperitif mdash 100 Agave 51 Agave Margarita and Orange Liqueur Calling himself a ldquoCentral Government bratrdquo he typifies the children he grew up with as ones who are ldquooutgoing always interested in checking out and playing with new ideasrdquo while we think maybe it was all due to travelling all over the country is the secret Nazareth has always been conscious of producing an ostensibly Indian product with ldquono foreigners involvedrdquo as from the RampD compounding and distilling the spirit to zigzagging through a bureaucratic maze that led to one of the most outlandish things we have ever heard the man behind the brand has done it all In good spirits ldquoSo I was trying to get a license for the spirit from a district office He asks me what is the spirit made from lsquoIs it a fruitrsquo mdash lsquonorsquo lsquoa vegetablersquo mdash lsquoummhellipno a plant actuallyrsquo Then you need to get an Ayurvedic license pat came the replyrdquo chortled Nazareth while we were busy rolling our eyes to tell how ludicrous the dusty arcane system of ours was only best for stories More of scotch drinkers ourselves we kept on nudging Nazareth to think why the ostentatious spirit for shots will be a good way to wind down Plus the projectile emissions and throbbing hangovers have made it all the more infamous ldquoIf your tequila is wellmade like our 100 Agave Spirit that is to be had on the rocks chances of a headache are minimal Plus with the Mexicans being our competitors I try to eliminate all the stuff that can cause headaches as we would be definitely taken for fools if the Mexicans scanned through our stuffrdquo comments the man who brews the ldquowaste from wastelandrdquo spirit as Agave is commonly perceived as an unwanted plant Still he disclaims ldquoThere are many people who come and tell us that theyrsquove never had a hangover because of our spirit But we canrsquot say anything especially if yoursquove mixed it wronglyrdquo Agave any way The ldquoroughanddunkitdownrdquo drink can be had in a wellmade Margherita one of the primary reasons why the drink gained popularity ldquoYou should take lime orange liqueur and Agave Spirit to make the classic Margherita In case you feel for adventure ldquofruit juices with a touch of limerdquo will work equally wellrdquo shares he He feels that this century plant can give a zingy twist that the people at Desmondji call ldquoBloody Maria a take off from the tomato juice cocktail or Agavita a twisted Mojitordquo The man with the frizzy mop shares his moment of epiphany ldquoI had once tried cucumber juice which had worked very well Any waterbased vegetable where you can taste all the elements distinctly will be a good option You need to get a waft of the spicy sweet and salty in a cocktailrdquo There is one more trick Nazareth is yet to pull out with his Desmondji Pure Cane fro Mumbaiites in December while his line of spirits garner much acclaim from boozers worldwide