Brewing a trend

In his autobiography, Out of My Comfort Zone, Australian cricketer Steve Waugh narrates how he and his teammates got rid of a cheap preservative like glycerine in mass-bottled beer. Waugh’s trick was to invert the bottle of beer in a tall glass of water (after opening it, duh) for a few minutes and allow the laws of physics to come into play. Glycerine is heavier than beer. Once you invert the bottle, you can see the glycerine trickling into the glass of water (you must try this at home). The result? A bottled beer that’s much smoother and lighter than what it was originally.

A new craft
Fortunately, beer drinkers in many urban hubs in India don’t have to go to so much trouble to drink half-decent beer now. With the entry of microbreweries in India about five years ago, all you need to do is to get yourself to the closest microbrewery for a couple of pints of fresh craft beer that is free of synthetic preservatives and, if made well, packed with flavour.

It won’t be too hard to find a microbrewery if you are in Gurgaon, Pune or Bangalore. The people of Mumbai (alas) will have to wait to enjoy craft beer at source. Though two brewpubs – Barking Deer and White Owl — have opened for business in the maximum city, they haven’t been able to start brewing yet because they haven’t got their brewing licences (see box). Similar is the case with a third microbrewery, the Gateway Brewing Co., based in the industrial belt of Dombivli. Once they get their licences, The Gateway Brewing Co., will supply craft beer to major pubs and bars in Mumbai including Colaba’s Woodside Inn.

The microbrewery boom started in 2008 with two brew pubs — Howzatt and Rockman’s Beer Island — opening within a month of each other in Gurgaon.

Gurgaon has nine-odd brew pubs now. In Bangalore, five have opened in three years. Pune has four – Doolally, that opened in 2010 in Kondhwa (South Pune), is the city’s first and biggest (and the best, some say).

Like always, microbreweries are an American trend that has caught on in India in a big way. “About 20-25 years ago there were about five brewers in America.

Today there are close to 2,500 microbreweries. Even a city like Vermont, where I am from, has 25 microbreweries for a population of not more than 5-6 lakh.

Compare this to the population of Mumbai (about 19 million). We’ll do well even if we get 1 or 2 per cent of Mumbai’s beer drinking population coming through our doors,” reasons Gregory Kroitzsh, who hopes his brewpub, Barking Deer in Mumbai’s Lower Parel, will be the city’s first such pub. Though Barking Deer is awaiting clearances and licences from multiple civic authorities to start brewing for over two years now, you are served a large and unique variety of Indian and imported bottled beer here.

Across cities, there is a clear demand for craft beer, with wheat beers and ales topping popularity charts.

Who’s raising a toast?
Toit brewpub in Bangalore opened to rave reviews in 2010. Arun George, its director and co-founder, says the brewery is running to full capacity and Toit is selling close to 400 litres each day (about 12,000 litres a month). Sanjay Mathur, MD of 7 degrees Brauhaus, one of the better-rated brewpubs in Gurgaon, moves around 6,000-7,000 litres of craft beer every month. Ditto with Suketu Talekar’s Doolally.

After facing limited options for years, microbreweries are a Godsend for those who love beer. “I’ve been a beer drinker all my life. Curiosity first led me to go to Doolally and try out their wheat beer. I really liked it… the difference in taste is clearly distinguishable,” says Rutuparna Deshpande, 38, director at a Pune-based advertising agency. “The only options available for so many years was Kingfisher and now Tuborg, Carlsberg and so on. But honestly, the quality and taste of these beers don’t seem up to the mark anymore. I don’t mind paying a little extra to have a well-crafted brew,” he says.

Karan Singh Rajput, 28, is a brand marketing executive with a Gurgaon-based motor company, who was introduced to craft beer two years ago. “I prefer drinking craft beer because it is smoother and less bitter than bottled beer. It also has a lot more flavour. It’s not just me, anybody with a basic palette can taste the difference,” he says.

It is possible that the growth in such brewpubs signals a shift in the drinking habits of the urban Indian.

India is better known for its consumption of white and dark spirits. Beer was known as a cheap drink for college students or an afternoon beverage. But today, well-travelled Indians who have visited Europe and have tasted a variety of good beers want the same stuff at home. “This is why the annual growth rate of beer is about 35%. Its market share has come up to about 15% from 4-5% five years ago,” says Mathur.

The real story
It’s all very good that beer drinkers have a huge variety to choose from now; there’s wheat beers, meads, ales, stouts and cider with fancy names like Basmati Blonde and Dark Knight!

But here’s a question no one’s asked yet. Is all beer produced in microbreweries really that good?

No, is the unanimous answer from consumers and brew masters themselves. The problem is that setting up a brewpub is now the thing to do and this craze has brought in many businessmen looking to quickly cash in on the trend and exit.

For some reason, Gurgaon gets the most knocks. “Setting up a brewpub in places like Gurgaon is not a problem. There are enough dealers willing to set up Chinese equipment (at a third of the price of a German variant) and there’s no dearth of local consultants willing to guide you through the process. But the end product is not what you expect a microbrewery to serve. Bangalore breweries are still better,” says Navin Mittal, founder and partner of Gateway Brewing Co.

Doolally’s Talekar also sails into Gurgaon brewpubs. Better still, he throws a challenge: “Drive down to Pune to try just half a pint of what we offer and then go to each of the pubs in Gurgaon and you’ll see the difference,” says Talekar. “Except for 7 degrees Brauhaus that’s hired a German brew master, breweries in Gurgaon don’t deliver a single decent pint.”

(On an aside, some readers may remember a Gurgaon-based brewpub was at the centre of a nasty fight that involved the police and went viral recently. The pub has since changed its name.)

The problem with run-of-the-mill microbreweries is that they are made to look like nightclubs, where the core product is bound to take a backseat, say experts.
People come there to be seen and not to enjoy the beer. “In nightclubs, people come for a short duration, get drunk on 60 ml shots and leave. Beer on the other hand is something you need to enjoy at leisure over a casual conversation post work,” says Mathur.

Businessmen seeking to cash in on the trend also scrimp on essentials like full-time brew masters and quality malts to save costs, say members of the industry.

But why only Gurgaon? Pune seems to be heading the same way, they say. “Having a good and experienced brew master is as important to a microbrewery as a chef is to any restaurant. Our CEO and brew master Oliver is German with 17 years of experience. He picked and sourced ingredients, hand designed all the beers and experimented with over 50 variants for four years before arriving at what we serve today. It’s really not as easy as hiring a consultant, a DJ and buying Chinese equipment,” says Talekar.

It is possible that fly-by-night brew pubs will suffer the same fate as some wineries that were set up at the height of the Indian wine boom a few years ago.

“Some time ago, anybody with some capital set up a winery in Nashik thinking they’ll make a brand name and be in France within a year. But it’s common knowledge that those businesses are not doing well... A similar situation will arise in the brewpub industry in India,” predicts Talekar. “If you don’t deliver quality, consumers will move on. There  will be ruthless elimination in the market and a few consistent steady players will remain.”

“The novelty eventually will wear off,” agrees Toit’s George. Once this happens, people will start looking for quality and taste. “A commitment to produce high-quality beers is what will keep an increasingly discerning customer returning for more,” he adds.

Clearly, the winner in all this will be the beer drinker. Let’s drink to that!