This talk is about a ‘black swan’, ‘blue ocean’ birthing event in 2018, midwifed and championed by Desmond Nazareth. He tells the story of the emergence of Mahua spirit from the shadows, the world’s only pot-distilled spirit made from the naturally sweet flowers of the Mahua tree. Desmond Nazareth is the principal founder and MD of Agave India, India’s first and only ruraly based ‘greenfield’ small batch ‘field-to-bottle’ and ‘forest-to-bottle’ craft distillery, using Indian know-how and raw materials. Desmond has been instrumental in formulating the 2018 pot-still based alcohol manufacturing standards in India. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx