Maya Pistola Agavepura, an Indian agave spirit founded by siblings Rakshay and Radhika Dhariwal, has spent four years building a new spirits category called agavepura, backed since April 2024 by a minority stake from Diageo's Indian arm, United Spirits.
The brand's rise has been documented across trade press over the past two years: a stake sale to a multinational drinks group, a growing medal count at international spirits competitions, and a November 2025 retail listing in the United Kingdom through The Whisky Exchange. Each step has been reported individually by outlets including The Spirits Business and Just Drinks, and the company has confirmed the underlying figures in its own statements.
How Maya Pistola sources and distills its agave
The spirit is made from wild Agave Americana that grows on the Deccan Plateau. According to reporting on the brand, the plants are harvested in the Chittoor district of Andhra Pradesh once they reach between eight and 14 years old, and the agave is distilled at a facility there before being transferred to Goa for blending, aging and bottling. The portfolio runs from Joven, a blend of unaged and briefly aged spirit, through Reposado and Añejo, the latter matured for more than 14 months, up to an Extra Añejo aged more than 36 months in new American oak, along with a rose-hued Rosa variant rested in ex-Cabernet Sauvignon casks. In its UK listing, the range carries ABVs from 38 percent for the Joven up to 48 percent for the Extra Añejo, with retail prices there running from roughly £32 for the Joven to nearly £64 for the Extra Añejo.
What Diageo's stake in Inspired Hospitality involved
In April 2024, United Spirits, the Diageo-controlled Indian listed company, acquired a 15 percent stake in Inspired Hospitality Pvt Ltd, the holding company behind Maya Pistola, for Rs 5.65 crore through the subscription of 3,494 Compulsory Convertible Preference Shares and 10 equity shares. The deal was one of several craft-spirits investments United Spirits made that year as it diversified beyond its mainstream whisky and vodka portfolio, following an earlier purchase of a 22.5 percent stake in Nao Spirits, maker of Indian gins Greater Than and Hapusa, and further investments in alcohol-free producer V9 Beverages and coffee liqueur maker Indie Brews and Spirits. Vikram Damodaran, chief innovation officer of Diageo India, pointed to the diversity of India's geography and terroir as a rationale, noting that agave can be grown in parts of the country much as coffee is endemic to others.
What the medal count and UK listing show
Maya Pistola's award tally has climbed steadily in company and trade reporting: roughly 32 accolades as of June 2024, more than 40 by May 2025, and over 50 by November 2025, when the brand's Reposado was named Spirit of the Year, India at the USA Spirits Ratings 2025, earning a gold medal with a score of 95 points; the Añejo took gold at 92 points and the Joven silver at 89 points. That same month, The Whisky Exchange added Maya Pistola to its UK range both online and in stores, building a dedicated agavepura section on its site. The brand has since pushed further into the UK market, appearing at the Tequila and Mezcal Show and the London Wine Fair in May 2026 and holding a guided tasting at London's House of Decant led by Dhariwal.
Why the brand calls it agavepura, not tequila
Tequila and mezcal are geographic indications controlled by the Mexican government, which is why a spirit distilled in Andhra Pradesh and Goa cannot legally use either term. Maya Pistola's response was to coin agavepura, which the company defines as agave spirits produced outside Mexico from 100 percent agave and without added flavoring, glycerine, coloring or other processing shortcuts, according to its own marketing. Maya Pistola also is not the first Indian agave spirit: Desmond Nazareth founded Agave India in 2007 and launched the DesmondJi brand in 2011, using agave from the same Deccan Plateau region. Trade coverage has since credited DesmondJi with establishing the category domestically, while framing Maya Pistola as the brand that pushed it into premium, internationally distributed territory.
What this means
Maya Pistola's purity language, the claim of being verified pure in all but name, is a marketing position stated by the company and echoed in its awards copy, not a finding from any named independent laboratory. Tequila Watch's own scoring covers tequila made under Mexico's denomination of origin, so no bottle in its database applies here. What is documented is the Diageo stake, the medal count reported by competitions, and a UK retail listing; what remains company-sourced is the purity claim itself.