Two microbreweries – Ironhill and MyzUno definitely upped the party mood in 2018 with their craft beer. Within the first half of the year, Vizagites gave them a thumbs-up that encouraged the breweries to experiment with flavours as well as their menu and their selection of music.
“Since craft beer is produced in small batches, it gives us a major advantage to experiment with flavours. So, if one flavour fails, we can replace it with another and the losses are not huge. We have worked out our strategy according to the local palate ” says Teja Chekuri of Ironhill. They introduced a new flavour every two months like the mango and the strawberry cider. The city loves ale, he says.
Bartenders say they have enjoyed the changes in taste. The city’s mixologists say that new flavours were welcomed by the people this year. “I introduced four organic cocktails this year and it was well appreciated,” says Swapnesh Swain, mixologist at The Park. Flaming shots also became a trend.
The energy of the city has changed and nightlife is more colourful with craft beer, multi cuisine as well as music. In a city not much known for its nightlife, there has been an influx of visiting Djs and live bands rocking parties. Somaa Restobar that opened its doors this year provided a space for city bands to perform and that offer has been lapped up by party-goers.
Music to their ears
Music, too, saw a paradigm shift. Going beyond Bollywood , the revellers expanded their horizons and tried out new genres. The city now has EDM nights and live-band evenings interspersed with sundown parties — giving an all-new definition to partying and nightlife. While techno ruled the dance floors , house music and techno-house caught up in the later part of the year.
Says DJ Bobsy, “I had been experimenting with tracks of underground music over the past six months and have been playing them every now and then. Since this kind of music is not commercially available, people can listen to them only when the DJs play it in the club. There has been a steadily growing fan base for this music and people have are loving the freshness of these tracks,” he says. Vue Bar in Hotel Novotel introduced ‘Sub-Culture Nights’, where the DJs play only underground music.