How Customers Learn to Trust an Unfamiliar Drink

by Annabel Jamieson, Chief Executive Officer, Maharaja Drinks

Walk into a wine shop and ask someone to choose between two bottles of Rioja and they'll often have a view. Ask them to choose between a Rioja and an Indian wine, or between a familiar gin and a spirit distilled from mahua flowers or cashew apples, and something interesting happens.

Most people don't immediately ask about taste. They want to know whether the drink is credible, worth trying and worth the price.

When people encounter a drink they have never heard of, they need enough reason to trust it before they can decide whether they might enjoy the flavour.

Over the past two years, as Maharaja Drinks has introduced premium Indian wines, whiskies, gins, teas and heritage spirits to the UK, we have watched that process unfold repeatedly. It has become one of the clearest patterns in our customers’ behaviour.

In our experience, hesitation often begins before flavour can be judged. Customers need enough evidence to place an unfamiliar drink alongside products they already trust. That changes the task from describing a flavour to building confidence in a category.

Familiarity is often mistaken for quality

Businesses may assume that customers choose products because they objectively prefer them. In practice, familiarity often acts as a substitute for evidence. A recognised country of origin, a grape variety they know, a spirit they have seen before or a brand they have encountered repeatedly can all reduce uncertainty. These cues may say little about the quality of the drink itself, but they give customers more confidence in the purchase.

This is particularly visible when introducing drinks from India.

Many consumers already know that India produces internationally respected whisky. Fewer realise it produces award-winning wines. Fewer still know about centuries-old traditions of distilling spirits such as feni or mahua.

A producer may have established quality long before customers in the UK feel confident choosing the bottle. That gap shapes many of the commercial decisions we make.

The first question is rarely about flavour

The questions customers ask reveal where the hesitation begins.

Customers rarely begin by asking whether an unfamiliar drink tastes good. Instead, they ask: “Where is it made? Who else drinks this? Is it actually traditional? Have I heard of the producer? Has it won any awards?”

These questions help customers judge the risk of trying something unfamiliar. Once they have enough context, curiosity about flavour begins. Many brands describe tasting notes long before customers are ready to listen. Aromas of black cherry, cardamom or Himalayan botanicals mean little if the customer has not yet decided that the bottle deserves their attention.

Until that confidence exists, detailed tasting notes are unlikely to do much work.

How customers move from familiar to unfamiliar

Customers can appear to become progressively more adventurous. In practice, discovery often begins with a familiar point of reference.

Someone who enjoys premium whisky may explore Indian single malt because the production process feels familiar. Someone interested in regional cuisine may consider Indian wine because it complements food they already love. Someone who enjoys craft gin may become curious about botanicals sourced from Darjeeling or the Western Ghats.

People usually move towards the unfamiliar from something they already trust. This affects how we approach merchandising, content and events.

We set up a gin and tonic tasting session where we asked tasters if they could differentiate between two drinks, one with a supermarket gin using industry standard Macedonian juniper and another from our Indian stable using the Himalayan juniper (and both with the same tonic). Every single one of our experimenters could tell the difference, and which was which. And they all expressed their intention to buy the Indian gin.

A familiar comparison gives customers a practical way to assess the drink without asking them to learn an entire category at once.

Experience changes beliefs faster than explanation

At our tasting events, perceptions often shift quickly after people try a drink for themselves. Before tasting, conversations may focus on whether India produces quality wine. Afterwards, people compare styles, debate food pairings and ask which producer they should explore next.

At Maharaja Drinks events, the conversation often moves from questioning the category to comparing personal preferences.

At a recent Brews event in London customers were surprised that Indian ciders and meads existed at all and after the initial surprise went swiftly on to compare their loves and hates of the particular flavours on show and make comparisons to other ciders and meads available in the UK.

For the customers we meet, tasting can provide evidence that a description alone cannot. This is why tastings, restaurant partnerships and guided experiences remain important for emerging categories.

How social proof reduces uncertainty

Reviews, ratings and influencers can help, but customers also rely heavily on people and institutions they already trust: a recommendation from a sommelier, an Indian wine on a respected restaurant list, a feature in an established publication or a friend ordering the bottle confidently.

Together, these signals make the bottle feel worth trying. Trust builds across repeated credible encounters and rarely comes from a single marketing campaign.

Price can also act as a trust signal

We have also noticed a tension around price. Many businesses launching unfamiliar products feel pressure to compete on price because lower prices can make trial easier. In an unfamiliar category, however, a very low price can create additional doubt.

Customers may ask themselves: “If this is genuinely exceptional, why is it so cheap?”

Price is one signal among several. Higher prices do not automatically create confidence, and not every premium product succeeds.

Where craftsmanship, provenance and production justify premium positioning, some customers may read heavy discounting as a reason to doubt the claim. For unfamiliar categories, value and trust can be closely connected.

Context makes unfamiliar products easier to understand

Businesses frequently say they need to educate customers. In practice, customers often need context rather than more information. More facts on their own rarely change behaviour; a familiar comparison often does.

Indian wine becomes easier to understand when discussed alongside cuisine. Single malt whisky becomes easier to assess when compared with established whisky regions. Mahua becomes more approachable when customers understand its cultural significance before encountering the production details.

Useful context gives customers a way to judge the product without overwhelming them with expertise.

Categories are built through repetition

Trust in a new category usually develops over time.

A customer may encounter an article, see the bottle in a restaurant, receive a recommendation from a friend and eventually taste it. Each encounter makes the category more familiar.

This helps explain why category-building often takes longer than product marketing. Each encounter contributes to a gradual change in assumptions. Customers need to see the category repeatedly in credible settings before it becomes familiar enough to choose with confidence.

What we have observed and what we infer

We have observed customers asking questions about legitimacy before flavour. We have also seen conversations become more confident once people have tasted the drinks.

For example we had a Heritage Spirits tasting recently with three different fenis on show. About a third of the group had tasted feni in Goa in times past and they were generally sceptical based on their decades old memory. After they tasted the modern international fenis we import they were bowled over, and those who’d never tasted feni before were intrigued by the mouthfeel and taste of this centuries old spirit now being distilled to international standards.

Our interpretation is that trust is one of the primary barriers facing unfamiliar drinks categories. We also believe that restaurant listings, respected media coverage and trusted recommendations can make customers more willing to try them. Price, availability, packaging and individual taste also influence behaviour. One factor alone is unlikely to explain every purchase. For businesses introducing unfamiliar drinks, trust deserves particular attention alongside these other commercial considerations.

What this means in practice

Awareness may attract attention, but customers still need enough confidence to buy.

That requires opportunities to taste the products, clear information about provenance, partnerships with respected restaurants and retailers, and credible third parties who can describe the drinks independently. Aggressive promotion cannot replace the gradual work of building trust.

At Maharaja Drinks, we are introducing many to categories they have never previously considered: Indian fine wine, single malt whisky from different Indian regions, heritage spirits such as feni and mahua, premium teas and craft gins from across the subcontinent. Our role is to give customers clear comparisons, credible context and opportunities to taste the drinks. Once customers feel confident enough to try them, the conversation changes. They begin discussing which producers they prefer, which dishes pair best and what they would like to try next.

When customers begin choosing between producers, styles and pairings, the category is becoming familiar. The practical task is to keep providing useful comparisons, independent reassurance and tasting opportunities until they can choose confidently for themselves.

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