With October Beer Festival doing the rounds, we take a look at a few watering holes in the city and what they have in store for the annual fest. By Devi Singh
If the month of October reminds you of the international Oktoberfest, the world’s largest beer festival held annually in Munich, Germany then you are definitely on a lookout for better avenues than gulping down the contagiously yawn-worthy Kingfishers and Tuborgs. As for the technical speak, the festival gets wrapped up by October 4 but most places in Delhi have extended it to month long festivity. Hic Hic Hurray! let the eager gustatory sense bring out the ‘brew spirit’ in you as we break down the ‘draughts’ from the ‘crafts’, the microbreweries from the commercial and helluva more.
If you talk about the microbrewery scene in the country, where freshly brewed tap beer falls directly in your mug, then there are only few places for it as yet like, Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore and Gurgaon. The microbrewery scene in Gurgaon started some eight years ago, today with 18 microbreweries, it rules the northern belt. As of now around 150 licenses have been granted which means the needs of the growing number of beer connoisseurs in the city will be taken care of. As Sameer Dutt, general manger, 7 Degrees Brauhaus, puts it, “The trend of craft beer is catching up a lot lately after draught beer. Once people have a glass full of flavours they can’t enjoy bottled beer.”
THE CRAFT OF A BRIMFUl
Draught beer is a commercial scale level un-pasteurised beer preserved in kegs. It doesn’t have much of a shelf life because of lesser amounts of preservatives compared to the bottled beer. Craft beer like the name suggests is crafted or made in small units in microbreweries. Each microbrewery varies in the kinds of concoctions it comes up with. In terms of infrastructure, there are German microbreweries with German plant and others with Chinese plants. A German set up will cost around Rs6 crore while a Chinese may take up around Rs1 crore. As of now, there are only two German microbreweries in India, 7 degrees Brauhaus in Gurgaon and District Six in Bangalore.
With so many microbreweries coming in, how do you decide which one will cater to your palateIJ Chef Noah Barnes from The Hungry Monkey says, “The taste of one microbrewery differs from another. People have their flavour profile for breweries.” Even the time required to brew a single beer varies. At 7 Degrees Brauhaus, they mature their beer which takes around 28 days. At other places they age the beer too, which takes around six months. The secondary fermentation of the beer is healthy as it retains essential proteins and yeast which gives body to the final product whereas commercial beers like Kingfisher lack the body as they are filtered.
The hygiene of these microbreweries is also very significant. “The place where we carry out fermentation is a sterile place so there are no chances of contamination,” says Sagar Powale, master brewer, 7 Degrees Brauhaus. This outlet produces four varieties of beer, namely lager, special beer which is a bit sweet, Master brew, a dark wheat beer which is called Dunkelweizen and the fourth is the wheat beer. The key ingredients are wheat, barley, which after processing is called malt, yeast, water and hops which are basically flowers that lend aroma and the bitterness to the beer. What gives the craft beer its distinct taste is lack of extra enzymes, colours or preservatives which are required to increase its shelf life. It remains fresh and consumable for two months for which maintaining its temperature, pH pressure is extremely important.
BOUTIQUE COSTS
But there’s also a flipside to microbreweries besides their small scale. Even today only five states in India have the microbrewery policy so you can’t become a national chain. Selling anything outside the premises is not allowed. It’s not commercially viable as it needs a large investment. There’s a lack of variety as usually you can have a four-tap infrastructure only. You can’t give the leftover craft beer to customers for their home use or even to smaller-tap breweries, so it basically goes down the drain. These are a few reasons why Rahul Singh, founder and CEO, The Beer Café, resisted the idea of a microbrewery. "We have a business model where we control the supply chain. We prefer making beers outside India and have private labels bring them to India in draught form in kegs. We dispense them on site at our cafes which is basically drafting them and keeping the brew fresh,” he tells us.
At The Beer Café, around 15 out of 50 varieties of beer brewed are draught beers. “Our idea is to give people more beers and it’s better to get them manufactured from somebody else. Also, in Gurgaon there is no water so where are these microbreweries getting water fromIJ I doubt if it’s the ground water or are they reverse-osmosingIJ” quips Singh.
For drafting a beer in a pub or a bar you need to add carbon dioxide at site and serve it fresh. The reason bottled beers feel heavier is because they are over carbonated and the carbon dioxide settles directly in your stomach. This is why you feel bloated and is another reason behind the ‘beer belly’. Also, draught beer is always served in glasses which means the big mouth of glass releases the excess of CO2 so you can have more of it.
“The market share of beer is 11 per cent of the entire liquor industry in India out of which 82 per cent is alcohol induced or the strong beer which basically consists of the lager variety. The craft or the premium beer constitutes only two per cent of the market. If you take the example of the United States, ten years back they just started with craft beer and today there are around 3,500 microbreweries in the US. likewise India will also catch up on craft beer and the concept of microbreweries,” Singh says.
PUSHING THE MARKET
In India, people prefer lager because it’s a tropical country and also the giant market is captured by the company which produces lagers like Kingfisher, Heineken and Carlsberg. The lowest alcohol content in craft beer is four per cent and the highest is 5.5 per cent but up to eight per cent can be added which depends on the microbrewery. “For October Fest we had a special dark beer with a higher alcohol content around five per cent. The craft beer and the concept of microbreweries are at a nascent stage. People are getting educated about it. In the US, the cost of bottled and a draught beer is the same but in India there’s a huge cost difference. Our price range is Rs354 for 500 ml and Rs695 for one litre and a pitcher would cost you Rs950 plus taxes. The prices for all four craft beers have been kept the same,” Powale tells us.
“For October fest, we are offering Paulaner Hefe Weisbier which we are selling for Rs375 plus taxes for one pint and Bira White Ale tap beer along with Chicken Pichelsteiner One-Pot and lots more. The naïve young crowd prefers bottled beer whereas the well travelled and educated go for draught,” says Piyush Jain, corporate chef, Mia Bella.
Noah Barnes, chef at Hungry Monkey, tells us, “This is the first time we are celebrating the October fest. We have five beers on tap this year, which is serving by the litre and 500 ml. We are offering Erdinger Weissbier, Erdinger Dunkel accompanied with authentic German favourties such as German Sausages & Sauerkraut Fritters, the German Krakeur, Slow Roasted Mushrooms, Tenderloin Steak. We also have a selection of British and Holland beers. We are giving bucket deals and not just the tap. Delhi is definitely more into draught beer and come summer, it will only increase but bottled beer will remain strong for home drinking. For draught and craft beer you have to step out of your home.”
“We have been celebrating the October fest since our inception in 2012. It’s very close to our heart. And as the eponymous chain, we relish ourselves in getting beers from across the world. We are offering Weizenberg, Paulaner, Salvator, Kaiserdom, among others. We also import steins from Germany in which beer is served in a true German style. The Octofest generally starts on the second Sunday of September in Munich and lasts for two weeks ending on a Sunday. But we extended it all the way to the end of October because 40-45 days is a sensible time to do a promo. says Rahul Singh, founder, The Beer Café.