Goa, beer experts say, sat out the first round of the brew-pub frenzy across India바카라s big cities for nearly a decade. But it is ringing in the second flush of these strange brews.
About four years ago, Suraj Shenai met his first India Pale Ale바카라a Goose Island brew aboard a United Airlines flight on his maiden trip to the US. 바카라The flavour,바카라 he says, 바카라just blew me.바카라 And an idea fermented like a hoppy coincidence. Soon after, Shenai, 34, was in Goa바카라an unlikely port of call for craft beer then바카라to distil his stuff.
Goa, beer experts say, sat out the first round of the brew-pub frenzy across India바카라s big cities for nearly a decade. But it is ringing in the second flush of these strange brews. Last month, Shenai바카라s Goa Brewing Company dispatched to the local supermarkets bottles of its oat-cream India Pale Ale (IPA) called Eight Finger Eddie바카라it바카라s named after Goa바카라s best-known hippie who, in the late 1960s, made Anjuna beach his home; an ode, so to speak, to free-spiritedness. 바카라We are opinionated and speak our mind,바카라 says Shenai. 바카라You could expect an interesting phase for beer in India.바카라 Indeed, beer is hot in India바카라or cool, of course, depending on whether you바카라re making it or drinking it.
At last count, there were 18 new beer labels in the Indian market or heading here, says Rahul Singh, who keeps a tab on new entrants from his perch at Beer Cafe, one of the biggest beer chains in India. They include all varieties from the mass-produced flavours of Bira 91, which has squeezed its way into an industry dominated by global giants in just over three years, to the avant-garde saison and milk-shake IPAs바카라terms the average beer drinker isn바카라t even familiar with. There바카라s something for everyone, purist or beginner. Singh too has a brand of his own in the works, called Indie 18.
So how did India바카라s beer market become this frothy, at least in its major cities? Clearly, craft beer has tickled the taste buds in a country that had been starved of variety for long. So, there바카라s a rush to bottle brews that taste different. 바카라Craft beer is the new wine. Think about it: what do wine people tell you? Pair with food, pair with cheeses...this is what is happening with beer too,바카라 says Narayan Manepally as he tastes an orange-coloured brew served in a bell-shaped hurricane glass at a tap room in downtown Bangalore. The ale called Kamacitra바카라a wordplay on the Citra hops used for bittering, with a hint of mango and other fruit flavours바카라is one of the four varieties of fresh brews that his brewery supplies in kegs under the label Geist to about 58 restaurants and tap rooms in Bangalore besides a few in Mangalore and Mysore. 바카라It바카라s not what you바카라ve been used to for the past 30 years and it바카라s not your dad바카라s beer,바카라 he says.
Manepally, however, isn바카라t rushing to bottle these beers yet바카라it바카라s tricky to keep the beer fresh바카라but the plan is on the horizon. He was a techie working with Intel in Portland, Oregon, when he took up brewing as a hobby in the mid-1990s. Sometime in 2009, a few years after he returned to Bangalore, he launched Geist바카라getting the beers produced in Belgium and then shipped in bottles to be sold in India. He had to stop in 2013 as importing costs mounted. By then microbreweries were catching up, and he too put his money into two brew-pubs. He remembers telling his partner that their 바카라break-even point바카라 was Rs 44 lakh. In the fourth month, the revenue was double that figure and the pace, he says, hasn바카라t slackened. Now, he바카라s on phase three of his beer journey바카라as the taste caught on and more hoteliers warmed up to the idea of stocking craft beer. Last year, he set up a 30-hectolitre (a hectolitre is 100 litres) brewery outside Bangalore to supply them kegs of Geist. His business proposition to restaurants is simple: you don바카라t need to set up a microbrewery to serve craft beer.
A couple of buildings away from where he바카라s chatting with Outlook is Arbor Brewing Company, one of Bangalore바카라s early brew-pubs. It바카라s now the first craft brewer in India to sell their beer in cans바카라available only in Goa at the moment, where Arbor has built a new brewery that will also supply kegs to local restaurants. Over time, it wants the cans to reach store shelves in Maharashtra and Karnataka. 바카라As the palate evolved and people started demanding craft beer, we had to broaden our reach,바카라 says Gaurav Sikka, who runs Arbor. 바카라Microbrewing is here to stay, and it바카라s serious business.바카라
However, it바카라s also minuscule compared to India바카라s beer industry, estimated at 2.4 billion litres in 2017 by market research firm Euromonitor. The bulk of the beer sold in India is made at large breweries that would dwarf these new 30-hectolitre craft beer facilities. Broadly, here바카라s the trend playing out at various different levels: a brew-pub cannot sell outside its premises or bottle its beer, so some of them are now setting up their own breweries to either keg or bottle small batches. Then, there are new beer labels that get their brews contract-manufactured and bottled on a larger scale, just like the big players do. Bira 91, for instance, was initially made in Belgium, but is now being bottled locally. Wheat, gently hopped (so, less bitter), is the taste that바카라s catching on here, brewers say.
Here바카라s how the Indian beer market looks: United Breweries Ltd (UBL), which sells Kingfisher and Heineken, controls half the market, while the other half is sliced up by three other top beer-makers바카라Anheuser-Busch InBev (which now also owns SABMiller India), Carlsberg and Molson Coors. In the ring with these giants are the raft of start-ups led by Bira 91, eyeing large volumes with their new flavours winning them a fan following overnight in the big cities. 바카라Bira has taken the wheat beer...very fruity, flavoured beer space in India, and just kind of created a demand,바카라 says Shenai.
If you walked into a liquor store in Bangalore or Delhi, you바카라d see refrigerators stacked with dozens of brands바카라with snazzy logos and attitude바카라in pint bottles, some locally made and others homegrown-but-brewed-abroad. India is still a strong beer market so the eight per cent ales muscle out the rest on the shelf. Even then, there바카라s plenty of choice. There바카라s solid competition in the sub Rs 100 (per 330 ml) category of lagers; Bira 91 and Simba cost a bit more and an imported Thirsty Simona retails at about Rs 275 (all prices in Bangalore), about the same as a global Stella Artois that바카라s been in India for years.
바카라The lion바카라s share of growth will come out of these newer beers as the newer consumer is having those,바카라 says Rahul Singh of Beer Cafe. Naturally, one can argue, because volumes are relatively small. Nobody is expecting the market to change overnight바카라the big players are still leagues ahead on reach and pricing. 바카라It바카라s like saying, can I fight with Maruti?바카라 Singh says. Also, India바카라s low per capita consumption isn바카라t likely to change dramatically, either because beer is still expensive owing to duties and levies or has limited access바카라there are roughly 75,000 outlets of all kinds in the country. But these new beers have opened up some urban pockets, especially the young consumer who can afford a higher priced beer that tastes different.
Even market leader United Breweries plans to introduce its range of craft and variety beers early next year. 바카라Though the size of this market is very small at present, compared to the overall size of the beer market, it is growing at a rapid pace,바카라 says Shekhar Ramamurthy, managing director, UBL. 바카라This segment comprises opinion leaders of society and is, therefore, important.바카라 Over the years, UBL has been importing many premium labels it owns globally바카라Desperados, Sol, Edelweiss, Dos Equis and Affligem. So have many independent importers바카라for instance, the Mediterranean beer label Estrella Damm, which has been in India for about four years, is looking to broaden its reach. Now, the buzz is that Inedit바카라a super premium created by Ferran Adrià, among the world바카라s best known chefs바카라will soon start retailing in Delhi.
바카라Indian consumers are increasingly opting for beer with a smooth, light taste, finding it easy to drink when socialising. Light-tasting beers are also becoming popular among those drinking for the first time,바카라 notes a recent Euromonitor바카라s report. 바카라It hasn바카라t reached the point of dark ales and stouts yet. IPA is like really far-fetched,바카라 reckons Singh, who is eyeing a piece of the action with Indie 18 next quarter. It will be contract-brewed. 바카라In fact, we are not even calling our beer craft because craft is an abused word,바카라 he says.
Beer Cafe, with 50 outlets across 16 cities, will exceed Rs 100 crore in revenue this year바카라a good time to launch its own brand of beer to sell in-house. Singh explains his plan with a fashion analogy, a hangover from his previous stint in the apparel business. 바카라It바카라s a private label basically, like it was done by Jabong or Myntra. At the moment, at Beer Cafe we are selling everybody바카라s beer...we are an aggregator of beer basically. We have reached that point where we can manage minimum order quantities,바카라 he says. But nearly every day, says Singh, he also gets sounded out by youngsters who want to start a beer brand. 바카라No exaggeration. People meet me saying, 바카라what Bira has done, I can do too바카라.바카라
But beer is tough business바카라the brew is perishable so there바카라s a distribution challenge that바카라s only made more complex with various state regulations. Even brew-pubs are allowed only in a handful of states. 바카라It바카라s a slow burner, but at the end of the day it바카라s all worth it,바카라 says Shenai. 바카라We are happy that the beer is good.바카라
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Mug Menu
(Source: Company annual reports, interviews)
Top Beer Cos In India
New challenger
By Ajay Sukumaran in Bangalore