Incorporated in March,1993, Som Distilleries and Breweries Limited (SDBL) is promoted by Som Distilleries, J K Arora and A K Arora. The Company is based in Bhopal and is one of the leading alcoholic beverage manufacturers in India. The Company is engaged in production of beer and blending and bottling of IMFL. It has a strong sales and distribution network of distributors across India in States such as Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Karnataka, Kerala and West Bengal. The Company's distribution network is strong in Union Territories such as Chandigarh, Delhi and Puducherry. The Company and its subsidiary operate 2 manufacturing plants in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh and Hassan, Karnataka.
The product portfolio consists of Beer, Rum, Brandy, Vodka and Whisky. The Company's flagship brands include Hunter, Black Fort and Power Cool in the Beer segment and, Milestone 100 whisky and White Fox vodka in the IMFL segment. Other popular IMFL brands of SOM include Legend, Genius, Sunny, Gypsy, Blue Chip and Woodpecker in the beer segment. The Hunter and Woodpecker brands are also supplied as draught beer across all major hotels in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Currently, the Company has three millionaire beer brands in its portfolio.
The company had set up a project to manufacture beer with an installed capacity of 1 lac hltr pa and bottle the Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) with an installed capacity of 54,000 hltr pa. Commercial production commenced in Jan.'95. SDBL installed canning line for packing beer in cans which is capable of filling 15000 bottles per hour of 650 ML or filling 30000 cans per hour of 330 MML or 18000 cans per hour of 500 ML.
The canning line for packing beer in cans with a capacity of 30000 cans of 330ml or 18000 cans of 500ml beer per hour has been successfully installed and commissioned during the year under review. During 2001-02 the installed capacity of Beer was increased to 23800 KL's.
The Company commissioned a state of art brewery with a production capacity of 29,200 KL of beer during the year 2010-11. The brand 'Milestone 100' was launched into the premium Whisky segment on April 21, 2013. The White Fox' Vodka, a triple distilled grain Vodka was launched in Sep' 2013.
The Company launched the flagship brand, 'Hunter Pint' in 2016. During the year 2016-17, Woodpecker Distilleries & Breweries Private Limited became a subsidiary of the Company by acquiring 3,93,00,000 Equity Shares of Rs 10/- each constituting 99.97% of the equity capital of the Subsidiary. The Company launched White Fox RTD Drink in Cranberry flavour, Cosmo Cranberry. It launched all three variants of White Fox Ready to Drink (RTD) in Karnataka in September 2017. The Company commissioned the operations of Karnataka plant in April 2018.
The Company's two new subsidiaries in Karnataka and Odisha became operational during the year 2018-19. Pentagon Whisky and Woodpecker Wheat Beer were launched in Northern India in October 2019. In July 2018, the Company acquired a brewery unit in Odisha which started commercial production in March 2019.
The Company launched Woodpecker' Wheat Beer, India's first filtered wheat beer in Northern India in FY 2020-21. It introduced Legend Beer in Karnataka in 2023-24. Hunter beer demonstrated strong expansion in Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Delhi reflecting its growing presence in the market. Power Cool has shown a sustained growth in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka in 2024.