PEER - Indian tonic water brand with max fizz

PEER is a luxury tonic water brand and the latest launch of Leocorno Enterprises, a company formed by Anant Jangwal in 2016 that offers consumer brands in India, UAE, and the UK. PEER's current range comprises the regular Indian Tonic, Mint Tonic, Bitter Lemon Tonic, and a Zero calorie & Zero sugar tonic variant, the first of its kind in India. The brand will be launching 4 additional flavors in the coming months, with plans to venture into other beverage segments that offer innovative and healthy products.

PEER is India's lowest calorie tonic water brand, with no artificial sweeteners, preservatives, flavoring, and all-natural imported quinine. Best grade ingredients are used in making tonic water. The products are available across leading retail stores in Delhi NCR and Punjab, entering Uttrakhand, Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal and Goa by the first quarter of 2022.

Since its inception, the brand has sold 26,000 units of tonic water.

Lowest sugar tonic water in India

To fill the premium low-calorie, low-sugar tonic water gap, Anant Jangwal and his team initiated the R&D process to craft world-class contemporary tonic waters. Regular tonic water typically contains as much sugar as soft drinks, 8-9 gms per 100ml. Such a high dosage of sugar is added to mask the bitterness of quinine. However, PEER wanted to create a tonic with superior taste but without the extra sugar and calories. This is one reason why it took PEER 1.5 years, 20+ blind tasting focus group sessions, and numerous ingredient combinations to perfect the flavor profiles while containing 50% less sugar than other tonics. The brand has gone a step further and even created a zero sugar and zero-calorie tonic variant for health-conscious consumers.

Tonic water with no artificial ingredients

In addition to having the lowest sugar and calories, PEER's R&D team wanted to craft tonic flavors without artificial preservatives, colors, and sweeteners, which is often not the case with other commercial tonics. The team was finally able to create an innovative formula that balances the bitterness of quinine with top-quality ingredients and flavors without adding anything artificial. "To get the right taste without adding excessive sugar or artificial ingredients, preservatives and sweeteners was tricky, but the key to getting the product right!", claims Anant Jangwal, founder & CEO of PEER. The Bitter Lemon is one flavor that many people want to drink, i.e. without mixing any alcohol with it. People find the taste appealing and like the fact that it is not sweet like conventional lemon-flavored soft drinks.

Tonic water that goes well with Vodka

The Bitter Lemon tonic water variant is another rare offering that is currently not offered by any other Indian tonic water brands. This unique flavor is known to go with vodka as it is with gin. PEER's focus group findings also reveal that 50%+ users would also like to have this tonic variant as is without adding any alcohol. Lavanya Anand, co-founder & COO of PEER, says, "We wanted to create a tonic water range that perfectly enhances the fine spirit it is added to, but which can be enjoyed by itself too. This segment of consumers who enjoy tonic by itself is also an important target market."

Tonic water with max fizz

PEER tonic water also has 15% extra fizz than the average of others, resulting in high effervescence made possible due to thicker glass bottles custom designed for PEER. The brand's tonic flavors are receiving widespread appreciation from top mixologists and f&b critics.

Market Overview

As per estimates, 75% of the times when someone is consuming a gin, it is with tonic water. The reverse also holds true. 75% of the time when someone is consuming tonic water, it is with gin. Hence the acceptance and consumption of both these products go hand-in-hand. As the world witnessed an increased demand for premium gins starting around 2016, the demand for premium tonic water has also increased. As per WSR Drinks Market Analysis, the global gin sales value grew by 10.7% in 2019. Gin was the second fastest-growing spirits segment in 2019 after non‐alcoholic spirits. According to another study, the Indian mixer category is currently worth Rs 3500 crores, projected to grow to a massive Rs 7,000 crores by 2030.

"People across the world had started caring about the gin that goes with their tonic, but now people are also caring about the tonic that goes with their gin! There is demand for tonics that are not overly sweet, and which when added enhance their drink rather than overpowering it.", says Jangwal. "The response from customers in retail outlets has been tremendous! Our 0 Cal. Indian Tonic is turning out to be the top-selling SKU, followed by Bitter Lemon Tonic and Mint Tonic. In select modern trade stores we are present in, PEER has already captured a 10% share of the sales volume in the premium tonic water category."