… Royal Challenge is made by the Bangalore-based United Breweries Group, which also owns Kingfisher Beer and, like flailing Kingfisher airlines, is controlled by Vijay Mallya. The whiskey has quietly been sold in more than 300 stores in New York, New Jersey and Chicago for the past four months.
Tony Bedi, president of the UB Group in the United States, says that the company wants to sell Royal Challenge in areas where there are large Indian communities, and he plans to expand sales to Houston and parts of California… “The biggest interest in the whiskey has come from the Caribbeans who love cricket and associate it with the sport,” said Mr. Bedi…
Mr. Bedi just signed the Indian actress Pooja Batra to be the U.S. brand ambassador for Royal Challenge, and plans to officially introduce the whiskey in the United States next month, with a party in New York City. He has also hired Raghu Ram, an MTV India senior producer, to shoot a commercial, which will start airing on Indian television channels in the United States over the next few months. Read more.