It was a lazy afternoon in late 2011 when Goa-born and Portugal-bred finance professional from the UK, Oscar de Sequeira Nazareth, stumbled upon an ancient, moth-eaten family recipe book dating back to the times of the Portuguese empire. Nazareth was vacationing in his ancestral home in Goa, and as he began poring over an old recipe written in Portuguese for a spice liqueur, he decided to take a shot at making it.

Little did he know then that it would give him a path-breaking high. But now, nearly four years after he gave up his career on Deutsche Bank’s equity derivatives trading team in London to move to Goa and start commercially producing his Licor Armada — he launched it in late-2012 — he is already winning over liqueur lovers from Goa to Finland to the UK.

What’s more, he has put India on the global liquor map with Licor Armada becoming the only Indian alcohol ever to win a Gold Outstanding (GO) award at the prestigious International Wine & Spirit Competition (IWSC) — and twice at that in 2014 and 2015. GO is the highest accolade at the IWSC. Last year, Armada competed against 7,000 entries and it was the only non-European liqueur to be awarded a GO.

“We’re up there with the best in the world. And we’re very proud of the fact that nobody else in India has got even one GO medal and we’ve already got two of them,” says Nazareth. He adds: “It’s a very rare honour in the spirits world. The only problem in India is that we have to teach consumers that. I feel they go by brands more than their palate.”

Indeed, Armada, with its unusual spice flavours, is hardly known in India — it’s only available in Goa for now due to the crippling inter-state duties on alcohol sales in India. But with the IWSC awards opening doors, Nazareth has already sailed forth to look at bigger export opportunities. He launched Armada in Finland last year and in the UK more recently, where it’s priced at £25, and now he’s looking to expand to other markets.

“Initially, I thought that Armada would do quite well domestically, but then I realised that archaic laws in India limit my potential to expand within the country. So I decided to reach out to the world,” says Nazareth.

Now, Armada is a fine spice liqueur made in the style of a European digestif. But while most digestifs are made from herbs or fruits, Armada is made with natural spices and fruits.

“That’s what makes it so special. The flavours are absolutely unique,” says Nazareth. The IWSC’s tasting notes say that it has a “fascinating nose with mysterious Indian combinations of spice including cinnamon, nutmeg and some ginger.”

You can sip on Armada like a traditional after-dinner liqueur. You can also drink it on the rocks as an aperitif and it’s even great in cocktails, says Nazareth, who’s producing the hand-crafted liqueur in small batches at a contract distillery in Goa.

So how did the recipe come down to his family? Nazareth is still trying to trace that. “I know it comes from an original recipe in a town in central Portugal called Oliveira do Hospital. My grandmother on my mother’s side is of full Portuguese ancestry, so maybe it came from that side of my family,” he says. 

But it’s clear from its ingredients, he says, that it dates back to the Portuguese empire. For instance, the old recipe calls for sugar from Brazil and cloves from the Maluku or Spice Islands in Indonesia. “These were Portuguese colonies. Brazil was lost around 1821-22 and the Maluku Islands probably in the 17th century. So I think it goes back to at least before 1821,” says Nazareth.

He had heard of the family recipe but never tasted it before he made it in 2011. Incidentally, Nazareth grew up in the city of Coimbra in Portugal — his parents migrated from Goa when he was four. In 2001, at 18, he moved to London to do his undergraduate in financial risk management at the Cass Business School after which he joined the risk management major, Marsh & McLennan, in 2004. In 2007, he joined Deutsche Bank.

“The work was rewarding but I barely got time to see sunshine let alone have time for any hobby,” says Nazareth, who’s a keen photographer and also plays the piano. So, he was already a “little bit dissatisfied” when he tried his hand at making Armada.

It took a few weeks to mature the liqueur. “But once it was ready, I was blown away by the results. It tasted like nothing I’d ever tasted before,” he recalls. So, after consulting an aunt who makes a popular Goan wine, and crunching numbers in London, he decided to take the plunge and moved to Goa in March 2012.

But he didn’t quite account for the challenges of doing business in India, right from getting licences to the duty barriers. “I don’t know of another country which sabotages itself so badly,” he says.

That’s why he decided to focus on exports. Also, when he first launched Armada in end-2012, Western tourists in Goa became instant fans while the locals, familiar with the spices, didn’t think it was “anything special”, he admits. Now, he plans to take Armada to other markets in Europe and also the US next.

In Goa, he’s pushing Armada in bars and five-star hotels. It’s great to make a range of cocktails from Armageddon to an Armada Sour. Nazareth has also got chefs in Goa to create dishes like Armada glazed prawns, and to use it in desserts like chocolate torte.

“Bars are discovering Armada as a great differentiator since it allows them to offer something that’s local and yet world-class,” he says. And adds: “In the long term, I’d like to see a bottle of Armada in every serious bar in the world.” He’s hoping to raise a glass to that in future.