Catching Up Over 'Any Time' Beer

With an increasing willingness to savour innovations along with the changing palate preferences of millennials, craft beer is turning out to be the new love of beer enthusiasts.

- Anuj Kushwah

When I returned to India after my successful stint in London, I called up my friends to ask where we could catch up for a reunion. I was thinking of some restaurant where we could savour delicious Indian food or a subtle meeting lounge to slurp some hot coffee and talk for hours. Much to my surprise, my friends chose a beer café to meet where we gulped copious amounts of beer and shared some unforgettable moments.

This trend of meeting and greeting over beer is escalating rapidly in India. Now, drinking beer is the new way of opening a conversation because you open a bottle or two and then starts the never-ending talks, fun, and nostalgic experiences. Craft beer is swiftly catching up with the taste of millennials who want to seek taste and have freshly brewed beers. This trend is not only bringing changes to the whole concept of consuming drinks but also creating new business avenues for entrepreneurs in the fast emerging alco-beverage industry.

In the past couple of years, there has been a big surge in the number of consumers who prefer beer and wine to spirits. Growth is seen majorly among young drinkers who go for drinks that are affordable, low on ABV (alcohol by volume) and not so harsh on the palate. Beer & wine suit their requirement perfectly as they want to enjoy the taste and talk rather than have a kick after drinking a high intensity alcoholic drink. Following this trend, a number of microbreweries have been set up in major Indian cities to offer Indian beer lovers with varied and premium quality craft beer.