After three years of running from one government office to another, Boston boy Gregory Kroitzsh and brew master from Alaska, Benjamin Johnson have finally opened Mumbai's first microbrewery.
During the launch event of the city’s first freshly brewed by The Barking Deer, owner Gregory Kroitzsh’s speech was dotted with the lines —“we’ve achieved the impossible”, “the impossible can happen in Mumbai”, “people told me the brewing license would never come, but it has”, “we believe that Bombay can go Blonde, that pigs can fly, that deers can bark and that this city can have it’s own microbrewery”. The PowerPoint presentation playing on televisions above the bar counter echoed the former banker’s sentiments.
While the past two years saw microbreweries propping up by the dozen in Pune, Bangalore, Gurgaon and even in smaller cities like Haryana, Mumbai’s thirst for a good brew kept building, in some cases even leading people to Pune for a beer weekend. In June, when this writer asked Kroitzsh during a chat how much longer would it take for the licenses to arrive, he said, “I don’t know. I hope it comes tomorrow but it could come in a month, it could take another year.”
The microbrewery was set up more than a year ago, the team was in place, the staff was hired, the brew master as Kroitzsh said “sat on his butt for two years”, the rentals were being paid but the licenses didn’t arrive for about two and a half years owning to the strict licensing policies and the tough-to-navigate bureaucracy.
If Twitter, Instagram, Foursquare and Facebook is any indication, the news of The Barking Deer ready to serve the city’s first freshly brewed beers has the tipplers in Mumbai very excited. On the day of the launch, the tweeting and status updates went on through the night and the ones not invited for the event were commenting and retweeting with as much enthusiasm. Meanwhile, the pitchers of the Bombay Blonde Ale, The Barking Deer India Pale Ale and Flying Pig Belgian Wit were disappearing moments after being filled from the taps.
The Bombay Pale Ale, served up first, is what the brew master calls the gateway beer. The brew, made with European hops and a little bit of wheat is light, it’s a beer that he says you can drink all day. The India Pale Ale, made with 2-row pale malt, hops from the US and New Zealand and a special caramel malt, that got the serious drinkers in the house most excited, had a beautiful dark amber colour and packed a serious punch. Our favourite, however, was the cloudy Belgian Wit that was light and refreshing. It had subtle hints of Indian coriander, which the brew master said is the best in the world, and citrus from mosambi rind that was used at the last minute after the orange that was purchased mysteriously disappeared minutes before it was to be added to the brew!
In June, Kroitzsh had revealed how the brew master, while waiting for the license to arrive, was experimenting with local, seasonal ingredients and had come up with recipes using jamun, kokum and red chillies. These brews, we’ve been told, will soon make it to the taps.
The freshest, lightest and smoothest brews are now just around the corner. Three beers to that!
The Barking Deer will start serving fresh brews, priced between Rs250-350, starting November 7.
Mumbaikars will no longer have to drive down to Pune to get their hands on some of the freshest, lightest brews.
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