India, May 10 -- The early administrators of Awadh, including Burhan-ul-Mulk and Safdar Jang, were not known for alcohol consumption. In stark contrast, their successors, Sa'adat Ali Khan and Nasir-ud-Din Haider, were noted for their indulgence in excessive drinking. Ironically, Wajid Ali Shah, the much maligned last king of Awadh, was a staunch teetotaler. Intoxicants (khamr), including liquor, are fundamentally prohibited in Islam. Nonetheless, the consumption of such beverages was not entirely absent among Muslim rulers. Emperor Jahangir referred to liquor as an 'elixir of life.' Aurangzeb claimed that only two men in all of Hindustan did not drink - Aurangzeb himself and his chief qazi, Abdul Wahhab. In Lucknow, it is likely that nobility obtained liquor through European merchants, while locally produced 'Arak' would have served the needs of less affluent consumers. (Bacchus was the Roman deity associated with wine, fertility, revelry and interestingly, agriculture) In 1803, John Maxwell had established a distillery in Cawnpore (Kanpur), purportedly the first distillery in the Indian sub-continent. One Robert Carew, a spirits specialist, later bought the company and operated it with the help of his brother. After the events of 1857 were over (the unnamed brother died at the hands of the revolutionaries), the Cawnpore distillery was revived with the help of the British army. Later, Cawnpore became part of the United Provinces. Carew's expanded rapidly, establishing branches in Rosa (Shahjahanpur), Asansol, Katni and Darsana (now Bangladesh). At Lucknow, the Nawabi garden of Aishbagh was identified for the setting up of industrial units and a water supply plant. A distillery at Aishbagh was first established in 1858, which faced a mishap and burnt down in 1869. The facility was revived in the same year on an adjoining site. In 1855, Edward Abraham Dyer, the son of a British army officer serving the ECI, established a brewery in Kussowlie (present day Kasauli, HP) for brewing its 'Lion' beer. E Dyer & Co started production in Lucknow in 1882, producing an impressive amount of beer annually. It will never be known what prompted the company to set up brewery operations in Lucknow, which was neither blessed with a cool climate nor had a crystal clear water source from mountain streams. Meanwhile, another enterprising European, HG Meakin, founded several breweries in the hill stations of Ranikhet, Dalhousie and Kirkee (then Poona). In 1937, the two competing firms merged under the name of Dyer Meakin & Co. The company was listed in the London Stock Exchange. Post WW-II, in 1949, the company, now under the stewardship of Narendra Nath Mohan, would be re-christened as Mohan Meakin Breweries. Interestingly, the name of the original founder, 'Dyer' disappeared from the company's name, although it continued to trace its origins and lineage from 1855. McDowell & Co had been established as a trading firm in 1826, by one Angus McDowell near Fort St George, Madras (now Chennai). McDowell's became the preferred purveyor of imported liquors and cigars for Indian royalty and British officials. Colonial 'Huzrutgunge' in Lucknow, with its provisions and pharmacy stores, had a flourishing liquor trade, with Murray & Co, Oudh Cocogem Provision Store, M/s Sohrabjee, Whiteaway, Laidlaw & Co and SH Clarke & Co providing the needful. The ice manufacturing facility, together with its pits near the Farhat Baksh, was closed down, and John Ice Factory started operations in 1902. M/s Ice Machine Supply Co was the ice merchant operating in 'Huzrutgunge', while bars and hotels too served liquor to the public. McDowell's had been incorporated as a company in 1898. Post independence, it was acquired by the Vittal Mallya-run (Vittal Mallya was the father of present day Vijay Mallya) United Breweries Group in 1951. It was the first company to manufacture Indian substitutes of foreign liquor from imported concentrates, giving rise to the term 'Indian Made Foreign Liquor' (IMFL). The Mallya group also acquired Carew & Co, including its Rosa distillery in 1963-64. Back in Lucknow, Col Ved Ratna Mohan took over the reins of Mohan Meakin after the death of his father, Narendra Nath Mohan, and brother Kapil Mohan. VR Mohan seems to have been the actual inventor of the iconic 'Old Monk' rum, with the bottle having the face of HG Meakin in the tubby avatar of a Benedictine monk. Another widely recognisable product of the company would be its 'Golden Eagle' beer. The colonel, as mayor of Lucknow, established the unique 'Globe Park' with a rotating masonry globe, perfectly aligned and timed with the constellations. Unfortunately, after being a landmark of the city for several decades, it was dismantled in 2025 and replaced by a rather indifferent substitute made of metal. Rakesh Mohan, son of VR Mohan, later broke away from the family business and sold the Lucknow-based Mohan Goldwater Breweries to Gurdeep 'Ponty' Chadha of 'Wave' Group in 2010. Ponty was mysteriously killed in 2012, apparently due to a family feud. PC Sarkar, a former scientist, has authored several books on the forgotten heritage of Lucknow...