Some macro action is brewing in this micro space

With less than 50 microbreweries in action across the country, craft beer is relatively a Johnny-come-lately in the Indian tipple space. But the business seems set for some macro action in the years ahead.

While work on setting up the first commercial scale craft brewery in India at Nashik is on, at least a dozen more non-commercial breweries will be coming up in different parts of the country in the next one year.

What’s more, American company Brooklyn had commissioned a survey to study the Indian market, while others such as Sierra Nevada, Railway Site Brewing Company and at least two European craft beer makers are reported to be keen on tie-ups with local partners to make an entry into the country.

“There is a lot of interest in India from at least half a dozen large foreign craft-beer players,” says Leonard Menezes, co-founder and CEO of Mumbai-based firm Ace Alcobev, which signed an MoU with Brooklyn for the market research.

The former UB Group man is also the face behind Ace Alcobev’s upcoming 50,000 hectolitres (500,000 litres) a year commercial craft beer factory in Nashik, which is tipped to go on stream in December.

“We will begin with 25,000 hectolitres in the first phase and then increase production in phases,” says Menezes, adding the beer will be sold in kegs, bottles and cans. The total investment in the project is around ₹25 crore.

Since 2008-09 when the concept of craft was first introduced in India, courtesy Suketu Talekar’s company Brew Craft India that launched the Doolaly brand in a Pune club, Bengaluru, Pune, Gurgaon and lately Mumbai have emerged as the major craft hubs.

And there is more action in the offing in places like Hyderabad, Goa and Kolkata. “We are helping set up two new breweries in Pune, one each in New Mumbai, Bangalore, Goa and another location in Maharashtra,” says Anita Lazar, MD, Deccan Brewing Company, and owner of Smokies Brewery at Ishanya mall in the city. The Pune-based company provides grain-to-glass consultancy for microbreweries.

While several states in the country have a microbrewery policy, Maharashtra is one of few that allows ‘keg-in’ where the craft is made at one location and supplied elsewhere.

This has attracted many takers. While Gateway in Dombivli was the first to begin keg-in, Smokies and Bengaluru-based microbrewery Toit are set to join this league. “We have acquired land at Sanaswadi near Pune and are setting up a 10 HL capacity brewery,” says Mukesh Tolani of Toit.

Currently, there are around 3,000 craft breweries in the US, accounting for about $17 billion by value of sales in FY-2013, and representing 15 per cent of the US beer market by volume.

In India, the market for fine quality hand crafted beers is pegged at $25 million, and while the percentage in comparison to total beer consumed is miniscule, providers and consumers all agree, there’s a lot that is brewing in there.

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