Kapil Mohan (Mohan Meakin)

Some Lesser Known Facts About Kapil Mohan

• Did Kapil Mohan smoke?: Not Known

• Did Kapil Mohan drink alcohol?: No

• He was the person behind the Old Monk Rum.

• It was on 19 December 1954 that he launched Mohan Meakin’s most iconic product- the Old Monk Rum. It’s also the 3rd largest selling Rum in the world. 

• Interestingly, he was a teetotaller who ran a brewing company under his watch for over 4 decades.

• Since 1973, Mohan was the Chairman and Managing Director of Mohan Meakin Limited, the 1st known brewery in India.

• Mohan Meakin was established in 1855 at Kasauli under the name Dyer Breweries. 

• Dyer Breweries was established by Edward Abraham Dyre father of Colonel Reginald Edward Harry Dyer of Jallianwala Bagh massacre. 

• The Brewery launched India’s first beer- Lion, which was also considered the first beer in Asia. 

• After independence, his grandfather, Narendra Nath Mohan acquired a majority stake in Dyer Meakin Breweries and built new breweries at Khopoli (near Mumbai), Ghaziabad and Lucknow. 

• In 1967, the company’s name changed to Mohan Meakin Breweries.

• After the demise of Narendra Nath Mohan in 1969, Kapil Mohan’s elder brother, V R Mohan took over as Managing Director.

• After the demise of V R Mohan in 1973, Kapil Mohan took charge of the company and diversified company’s products including fruit juices, breakfast cereals, and mineral water. Subsequently, the word “Brewery” was dropped from the company’s name in 1982.

• In 2015, though he continued to be the chairman, he passed on the executive control to his nephews Vinay and Hemant.

• After the demise of V R Mohan (his elder brother), Kapil saw the emergence of Mohan Meakin’s most iconic product, the Old Monk Rum, as a global brand.

• With heavy patronage from military canteens, Old Monk was the largest-selling liquor brand in the country, until the mid-2000s. However, company’s other brands such as Golden Eagle Beer started weathering with the onslaught of Vijay Mallya-led United Breweries group and other competitors. 

• Surprisingly, market dominance of the Old Monk Rum was achieved not through conscious marketing efforts, but by word of mouth. Once, Mohan said, “We do not advertise. I will not, and as long as I am in this chair, we will not (advertise),” Mohan had said in an interview in 2012,“The best way of my advertising is the product: When it comes to you, and you taste it, you look at the difference and ask what is it. That is the best advertisement.”

• People close to him say he wanted things done the traditional way as he was averse to change, and the secrets of the success of Old Monk was the fact that the water used to distill it was sourced from the same natural spring in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan as it was 150 years ago. 

• The Old Monk Rum is so beloved to its consumers that they consider it the next best liquid in the world after water.

• In the mid-2000s, the Mohan family saw a split with Kapil’s nephew Rakesh ‘Rocky’ Mohan (son of V R Mohan), breaking away. Rakesh ‘Rocky’ Mohan sold the company’s Lucknow venture to the Wave group led by Ponty Chadha. 

• Since the rise of Ponty Chadha, Mohan Meakin, which was once listed on the Calcutta Stock Exchange, has been delisted.

• He also served as the President of the Municipal Committee of Solan in Himachal Pradesh.

• He was also the Chairman and Managing Director of Narinder Mohan Hospital, Ghaziabad.

• Kapil Mohan was an Indian Army Personnel and was a retired Brigadier from the Indian Armed Forces.

• From 1956 to 1966, he served as the Managing Director of Trade Links Private Limited.

• He also served as a Director of other companies- Mohan Rocky Springwater Breweries Limited, Arthos Breweries Limited, R. R. B. Energy Limited, Sagar Sugars and Allied Products Limited, and Solchrome Systems India Limited.

• Mohan was the patron of General Mohyal Sabha (the apex body of the Mohyal community). 
• On 6 January 2018, he died of cardiac arrest.