The quick sound of pop, with the fizz flowing out, filling
the air around with a nice, fresh whiff of beer can make any beer enthusiast go
gaga. A mere sip possesses the power to teleport one to a whole new world where
one can just sit, relax and enjoy his/her glass or bottle of beer. Yes, the
Indian market is waking up to the beer culture and the microbreweries
mushrooming in cities like Bangalore, Gurgaon and Pune are a clear indication
of this booming culture. Goa too has realised the potential that freshly brewed
beer has and a number of business establishments are queuing up to offer
international brands of beer, beer on tap, and even setting up microbreweries
to produce their own brand of beer, right here in Goa.
Amit Bakhale, founding partner of GoodLife – a business
entity that owns establishments like Cohiba, Tao and a brand new tavern that
will be opening in the capital city in a few days, feels that Goa is slowly
waking up to the beer culture that is steadily ‘brewing’ in the rest of the
country, especially in Bangalore, Chandigarh, Gurgaon and other cities. Bakhale
says, “We are the leading sellers of Hoegaarden beer by tap at Cohiba in Goa.
At the tavern (about to be opened soon), we will have premium international
beer on tap alongside offering craft beer to all the beer enthusiasts in Goa,
at great prices. At Cohiba too, we are setting up a brewery to make our own
brand of craft beer and are working with a brewmaster who has learnt the art of
making beer and wine in New Zealand with an experience of over 10 years doing
that. The ‘freshly brewed’ result of this will be for everyone to taste at
Cohiba in a few months.”
In 2012, Café Mojo, situated in Panjim, grabbed the
opportunity to be India’s first E Beer pub where one could draw his/her own
beer from taps directly into the glasses on the table, allowing one to only pay
for what he/she consumed and not pay by the glass. The success that ensued has
inspired a few others to follow suit. A lot of restaurants and pubs have
started offering beer on tap and Watson’s – another pub in the heart of the
city, is the newest example.
The world over, craft beer companies have brewers who honed
their skills through the humble beginnings of home brewing. Ashton Sequeira, an
avid traveller and a beer enthusiast who has sampled beer in different parts of
the world, shares more details: “By maintaining contact with the community,
professional brewers get the opportunity to work on interesting recipes and
ingredients that have filtered through layers of experimentation. This unique
bond between beer companies that want to push the envelope and home brewers
pursuing their passion has led to great creativity in the current Indian
context. A brewery in Pune recently released an American-style pale ale that
uses Japanese Sorachi Ace hops. These hard-to-find hops would have made for an
expensive experiment at the microbrewery level, but after trying a small batch
experiment in a private tasting, it gave them confidence to move forward. It is
about time that someone in Goa gets out of the comfort zone and tries something
like this. Who knows, a lively collection of brews that are uniquely Indian may
emerge.”
