Better, not bitter: Breweries say cheers to wheat beer

BENGALURU: Iman Haldar, 28, knows exactly which beer he will order every time he visits Toit, one of the most popular microbreweries in Bengaluru. It is the Belgian wheat. He liked it instantly on his first visit. “I prefer light beer. The Belgian wheat suits me. It’s not bitter,” he said.

Haldar is one of the new breed of young Indians who are looking beyond the commercial strong and mild beer — better known as lagers — and exploring the bigger beer universe that includes the offerings of microbreweries.

Microbreweries, or craft breweries, are breweries that produce small amounts of beer, and are independently owned. They differentiate themselves from corporate breweries with their emphasis on quality, flavour and brewing technique. Microbreweries are exposing Indians to ales, of which there are several variants, including wheat beer and stout.


Wheat beer now largest selling drink

Wheat beer, both Belgian and German, has become the largest selling drink for many microbreweries in India and the companies attribute that to its lightness, low bitterness and fruity flavour.

“It is the preferred choice in the craft beer segment in Mumbai and Pune,” says Navin Mittal, founder and partner at Mumbai-based microbrewery Gateway Brewing.

The German wheat has a clove and banana flavour along with the flavour from yeast; the Belgian has a coriander and orange one. “It suits the Indian palate,” says Mittal, whose White Zen, a German wheat beer, is the largest selling in his portfolio since inception in 2011.

The beer world is broadly divided into two — lager and ale, and they are made using different strains of yeast. Lagers are brewed or fermented at about 8-10 degree Celsius, and ales at 18-20 degrees. People tend to graduate to beer in which yeast is fermented at higher temperatures.

“Wheat beer, due to the nature of the yeast, gives a fruity profile, a light spicy, pepper-like character which makes it easy to drink,” says Sibi Venkataraju, co-founder of Toit. Lager, in comparison, is crisp, light and bitter, with few flavours coming out.

Beer has traditionally been popular among men, especially young men, and many manufacturers have marketed strong beers, associating them with physical strength. That is now changing with the growing presence of craft beer and lighter variants. That’s also bringing women into the beer fold, and the beverage is now viewed by the young as an essential part of socialising.

This trend recently encouraged Spanish beer maker Mahou, which has been present in the country for the past six years, to introduce its first commercial wheat beer in India. Variants of ale beer include pale ale, the typical English beer, made of barley malt and hop which gives it a bitter flavour; brown ale, which is malty and fruity but not bitter; and the IPA (Indian Pale Ale), which is more bitter due to higher hops content. IPA was originally imported to India by the British in the 19th century with higher hops to prevent bacteria and fungus from infecting it.

Stout, a dark beer with roasted barley malt which gives it a black coffee taste, is particularly popular in the South. Javed Murad, founder of craft beer maker White Owl Brewery, says 75% of his all-India sales are wheat and the rest are other ales and stouts, but the numbers become 60% and 40%, respectively, in Goa and Bengaluru.