Pune: Banking on people's appetite for sweet drinks, Pune residents Rohan Rehani and Nitin Vishwas are set to introduce mead or honey-wine in the city soon.
After obtaining the necessary licences in September, the duo's brand 'Moonshine Meadery' is ready to roll out various types of mead at the Pune Food and Beverage (F&B) market.
"Mead was a beverage that has been consumed for centuries across Asia, Europe and Scandinavian countries. However, while mead continued to be brewed in Scandinavian nations due to a shortage of grapes, it disappeared from Asia. We launched our brand in June this year. Apparently, a new meadery has also been set up in Thailand," Rehani said.
Shedding light on the journey of Moonshine Meadery, he said the idea clicked him in 2014. "Initially, when I tried my hand at brewing mead, it turned out horrible. Since then, after continuous attempts, the mead started tasting better. We made our friends try it and they asked for more. It was then that we decided to explore the commercial viability of mead. We were thinking of launching a small outlet for Pune only. However, considering that Indians like sweet beverages, we thought that the venture could be made national," he added.
Rehani said despite the completion of the set up in 2016, they got the licence only in September 2017 as the law had to be amended to include meads in the craft wine category. "Now that we have our licence, we will start production with an initial 5,000-litre capacity. Our set up has three tanks, including one for carbonation. We are set to commence bottling within the coming week and are only waiting for the finalization of labels," he said.
The duo plans to focus on Business to Business (B2B) sales initially instead of retail. "We are looking at tying up with five restaurants each in Pune and Mumbai, where our meads will be available. One-on-one engagement and the option to try the product will generate greater awareness about the product. We are going to start with two types, Apple Mead, which is made by fermenting apple juice and honey, and Coffee Mead that is made by dunking crushed coffee beans in traditional mead. The meads will be priced at Rs 180 per pint," Rehani said.
"After launching in Pune and Mumbai, we will work on fine tuning the mead and solving any problems that may arise," he added.
After obtaining the necessary licences in September, the duo's brand 'Moonshine Meadery' is ready to roll out various types of mead at the Pune Food and Beverage (F&B) market.
"Mead was a beverage that has been consumed for centuries across Asia, Europe and Scandinavian countries. However, while mead continued to be brewed in Scandinavian nations due to a shortage of grapes, it disappeared from Asia. We launched our brand in June this year. Apparently, a new meadery has also been set up in Thailand," Rehani said.
Shedding light on the journey of Moonshine Meadery, he said the idea clicked him in 2014. "Initially, when I tried my hand at brewing mead, it turned out horrible. Since then, after continuous attempts, the mead started tasting better. We made our friends try it and they asked for more. It was then that we decided to explore the commercial viability of mead. We were thinking of launching a small outlet for Pune only. However, considering that Indians like sweet beverages, we thought that the venture could be made national," he added.
Rehani said despite the completion of the set up in 2016, they got the licence only in September 2017 as the law had to be amended to include meads in the craft wine category. "Now that we have our licence, we will start production with an initial 5,000-litre capacity. Our set up has three tanks, including one for carbonation. We are set to commence bottling within the coming week and are only waiting for the finalization of labels," he said.
The duo plans to focus on Business to Business (B2B) sales initially instead of retail. "We are looking at tying up with five restaurants each in Pune and Mumbai, where our meads will be available. One-on-one engagement and the option to try the product will generate greater awareness about the product. We are going to start with two types, Apple Mead, which is made by fermenting apple juice and honey, and Coffee Mead that is made by dunking crushed coffee beans in traditional mead. The meads will be priced at Rs 180 per pint," Rehani said.
"After launching in Pune and Mumbai, we will work on fine tuning the mead and solving any problems that may arise," he added.
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