Indirapuram: Beer aficionados to get first microbrewery on V-Day
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Indirapuram: Beer aficionados to get first microbrewery on V-Day

After Agra, Ghaziabad is the second city in Uttar Pradesh to open a microbrewery.

Indirapuram: Beer aficionados to get first microbrewery on V-Day

Ghaziabad: This Valentine's Day, the city that loves beer will get another reason to rejoice when freshly brewed beer will flow from the taps and fill the mugs of beer enthusiasts. On February 14, the first microbrewery of Ghaziabad is going to open. An Indirapuram-based restaurant-cum-bar has been issued a licence to setup the city's first microbrewery, told official of the excise department.

The microbrewery will be opened at Cinnamon Kitchen, the restaurant-cum-bar in Aditya City centre, a shopping complex in Abhay Khand, Indirapuram. The license was issued to Present Food anand Beverages Pvt Ltd, the company that runs the restaurant. 

Madhur Gupta, 0wner of the restaurant told that the restaurant is likely to start serving freshly brewed beer from Fed 14. “We have setup the apparatus and other equipment of the brewery. We are just waiting for nod from the excise department to start production,” he said. 

District Excise Officer, Mubarak Ali, told that license of establishment was issued while the licence for production was pending from the excise commissioner's office. “Once the setup is complete, a team from the office of excise commissioner in Lucknow will inspect the brewery before permitting the licence to start the operation.” 

After Agra, Ghaziabad is the second city in Uttar Pradesh to open a microbrewery. While Cinnamon is the third place in entire UP to have a microbrewery. The rest two places are in Agra.

The microbrewery at Cinnamon is being setup by Ambicon Brewery Solutions Pvt Ltd. The firm has setup over 100 microbreweries across the country.

The Capital, Price and Flavours of Microbrewery

Rajesh Singh, the director of the firm informed that the restaurant has invested Rs 50 lakh in setting up the microbrewery. “The price starts from Rs 30 lakh and goes up to 50 lakh. It varies according to the size of the microbrewery,” he informed.

Gupta told that currently, they have been permitted to produce 120 litres of beer everyday. The price range of the beer is kept between Rs 650 to 800 per litre, based on flavours the customers choose. The beer will be brewed in four flavours – Wheat, Dark, Lager and India Pale Ale (IPA). 

However, the brewery has the capacity to produce as many as 350 flavours. “It's like a pressure cooker. One can add as many variety of ingredients to it,” said Singh.

The Potential Customers of Microbrewery

The restaurant and the firm setting up the microbrewery are upbeat about the potential success of this latest concept of drinking freshly brewed beer in Indirapuram. “It will be an instant hit given the fact that there is no microbrewery in the city,” Singh commented.

The Cinnamon Kitchen is merely a few minutes drive from scores of posh housing societies of Indirapuram. The restaurant is targeting young crowd and professionals aged 25-30 years living in Indirapuram. “The youth of the city, living in highrises, goes to Delhi and Gurgaon to have a taste of fresh beer. Now it will be served in their vicinity. They would surely come to check this out. I am sure they will keep coming afterwards,” Singh added.

Given the populace and location, setting microbrewery in Indirapuram has high probability to turn into a money minting machine. Over the years, the area has developed into one of the posh localities of Ghaziabad, preferred for residence by young executives who travel to Noida and Gurugram for work. The area shares borders with Noida and Delhi and it is also an edge over other localities. 

29-year-old Dheeraj Madan, software engineer working in a private form in Noida, living in an Indirapuram's highrise was quite excited after knowing about the microbrewery being opened near his home. “Thank God! Now I won't have to travel Gurgaon. I can enjoy my weekend without worrying about distance,” he said.

The Future Prospect of Microbrewery Culture

Singh said that despite allowed in 21 states, the concept has only has reached only metro cities till now. The microbreweries in India is limited to metro cities. Barring few states, It failed to penetrate tier II and III cities where night life culture do not exist. 

Speaking on the future of microbreweries, Vinay Jain, MD of Ambicon said that the upcoming policy will encourage the restaurants and bars to set up microbreweries in their spaces. The UP government is coming up with excise policy. Under this policy, the tax on per litre freshly brewed beer has been reduced to Rs 60. Earlier it was Rs 150. 

The latest policy in UP will encourage more bars and restaurants to come and start the concept of serving freshly brewed beer to their customers. Also, the slash of more than 50 per cent on tax will make the brewed beer more affordable. 

The Uttar Pradesh government is coming up with new excise police 2020-21. The cabinet has given a nod to the policy two days ago. Under this policy, the tax on a litre of freshly brewed beer at microbreweries has been reduced by Rs 90. After the reduction, the tax is revised to Rs 60, while earlier, it was Rs 150. The policy is yet to be passed in the Assembly. Once passed, it will be implemented April onwards.