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Beer is perceived as a youth drink, is a steady F&B revenue driver in the metro cities, and is becoming increasingly popular amongst women, finds Bindu Gopal Rao.
“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza,” said Dave Barry.
And it’s not just pizza that beer gels with. India is guzzling beer like never before and Just-drinks - a leading online resource company for the beverage industry - estimates that beer sales in India are forecast to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 17.2% by 2011.
The Indian beer industry has seen a steady growth during the last decade, due to high disposable incomes and the entry of newer brands into the market. Beer is a great revenue-generating beverage, and is easy to serve, store, and account for.
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Says Julien Lloyd, assistant food and beverage manager, JW Marriott Mumbai: “Beer is most popular in big cities and metropolises, although the sale of ale is almost negligible compared to lager. Having said that, India has a lot of small towns and villages, which still look up to whisky as the only drink and are unaware of beer, thus, whisky remains the most consumed spirit in India.”
As the world’s oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea, beer is produced by the brewing and fermentation of starches, mainly derived from cereal grains, however, says Rohit Bajpai, executive assistant manager, food and beverage, Hotel Royal Orchid, Bengaluru: “There is a lot of variety to beer like malt, rice, and wheat beers.”
Lager is the preferred beer in India, primarily because of its acquired taste. There are some basic differences between each beer brand available in the market in terms of alcohol content, taste, flavour, and aroma. “The difference is in the types of fermentation process.
Ale is known as a top fermenter and can ferment in a few days. It tends to have heavier body, more alcohol, a darker hue, and is cloudier than lagers. Stout beer is also a part of the ale family. Draught beer denotes beer brewed and stored in the traditional way, maturing naturally, and served unpasteurised from the cask rather than from a bottle or can,” says Rohit Mathur, director, Bond The Fun Bar & Complete Sports Management India.
Most of the pale coloured beers in the market are lagers that are served chilled. The alcoholic content of lager is also lower than most ale. Adds Sherman Almedia, restaurant operation manager, Renaissance Mumbai Hotel & Convention Centre: “Today, no brewer in India makes pale ale. All are either lagers (4.3% alcohol, such as Australian lager) or strong lagers. While ale is preferred by a select few, lager tends to dominate sales as well as consumption.”
The popularity of beer drinking in India is limited to different kinds of lager and a variation called pilsner.
“This is suited for our country since the majority of places have hot and humid months for some time of the year. Also, given the fact that ale is traditionally drunk at room temperature, the lager variations have found a preference with us Indians.
The gamut of countries in the Asia Pacific region varies from Singapore and Australia, to India, China, and Vietnam. Due to the influence of the Europeans in these areas and the similarity of the climate, most beer drinkers are lager patrons rather than of the warmer variant. The Oceania countries, namely, Australia, New Zealand, Polynesia, and others, are known for producing lager beers.
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COMMENT
Beer is a youth drink with the sole reason that it gives a mild kick due to it's low alcoholic content.The boys who like