Crunch Time For Craft Beer As Pandemic, Fees Take Their Toll

Makers of Witlinger, Mad King and White Owl craft beers have either shut shop or started new ventures, while owners of Kati Patang, White Rhino and Beor 360 have scaled back their operations

- Varuni Khosla

Stiff fees, complex rules and the pandemic have snuffed out many of India’s small but promising craft beer brands, with the remaining shrinking operations and entering adjacent segments.

Makers of Witlinger, Mad King and White Owl craft beers have either shut shop or started new ventures, while owners of Kati Patang, White Rhino and Beor 360 have scaled back their operations.

Kati Patang beer, a runaway hit with its unique small-batch flavours like saffron, turmeric and lemon rind, has shrunk considerably in the six years since its launch. Its only available variant in the Delhi market now is Bareilly Bold, a strong lager, against four variants earlier. The company had to shell out ₹22 lakh to register the variant, a mandatory fee to sell each liquor brand or variant in the capital.

Co-founder Shantanu Upadhyay said Kati Patang had no choice but to shift gears. “While craft brands based in India do have a market, and we, along with our investors, strongly believe in this, the flip-flop in excise policies coupled with covid-19 have affected many businesses. We would love to have more support in India on the regulatory front. But until then, we are focused on cautiously investing in markets where we can gain share, launching our direct-to-consumer (D2C) play with four brew pubs with partners, and expanding to international geographies such as the US and the UK where we see brand pull," he said.