Why it’s important to know your drink

By Puja Gupta 

New Delhi, June 7 When it comes to liquor, not many people know enough about what they enjoy consuming or the process which goes into the making of their favourite drink.

LiqHub is a platform where customers can browse, learn, and also order their favourite drinks. It assists consumers in making well-informed decisions that would enable them to relish liquor within the secure walls of their houses at a time when social distancing is the new norm.

The vision of the company is to provide doorstep delivery of aqua vitae’. IANSlife spoke to Aryank Solanki, founder of Liqhub, to know more about the platform. He also sheds light on the importance of responsible drinking.

What role can an online liquor delivery platforms play in the current times as we step into Unlock phase 1?

Solanki: There are two sides to be seen in this crunch situation of COVID-19 with regards to liquor sale – end-customer demand plus government revenue. Taxes collected by liquor sale constitutes from 20 to 40 per cent of total revenue collected for various state governments. The stoppage of sales for nearly 55 days has financially paralyzed the government. With high demand and to keep social distancing in mind – online delivery platform is need of the hour.

Also, in this crunch situation, this service will not only avoid “infection due to line formation of customers” and “black marketing” but also will help in revenue generation for the state government. There will be hike in sale plus increase in employment in this period.

How was LiqHub incepted?

Solanki: In a party, out of surprise an unanswerable question came about whiskey – what is it made of? We were stunned as no one was aware of exact details – neither ingredients nor process of making. We don’t even know how much i alcohol v/v percent of the drink we take. This guided us to create a platform which not only guide you through your drink but also make you aware of the limit you should consume. It recommends the starters that should be paired with it, cocktail recipes and other information. This clearly adds more spice to a party. This will be a platform where one can take review of other recognised consumers for various drinks not tried.

We will also be allowing people to share their drinking stories and so that it can create impact on the heavy drinkers to have booze in limit. Our main motto is creating an impact in society by sharing knowledge about the alcohol and remove the social taboo about it.

How important it is to know what you are consuming?

Solanki: We passionately believe liquor is a drink to be taken with proper knowledge about it. One should be aware of important facts like alcohol content in the products, a person consumes. This clearly brings a point in mind about the limit cap. Also, to avoid any disaster we clearly mention about the limit number of drinks with each product displayed. Lack of product knowledge and your limit can lead to disaster.

What role will digital alcohol delivery play in the reduction of road accidents due to alcohol consumption, if any?

Solanki: One serious accident occurs per minute due to binge drinking. We clearly aim to bring services to door – after long office hours, one need not go to a liquor shop to make purchases. Clearly this reduces the crowd on roads in front of shops. Also, after having drinks many face issues of replenishment – which becomes major factor of accidents not only of drunk persons, but also pedestrians on road. This is highly under reported.

(Puja Gupta can be contacted at puja.g@ians.in)