Wary of catching a cold, tipplers shun chilled beer

Hubballi: Sale of beer fell by 53% per cent in the district owing to the fear of catching a cold and having a sore throat after consuming it.
Beer is popular among the youth and those who drink occasionally. But since the onset of the pandemic, there is a significant drop in beer sales.
Sunil Jituri, a CL-2 bar owner said after the lockdown was relaxed, there has hardly been any beer sales. Beer has a shelf life of only six months and many bar owners are offering concessions to clear stock.
“The situation is such that, we are seeing God in a customer buying beer as they are our saviours from financial losses,” he said.
“Before the lockdown, we used to sell around 40 bottles of beer per day. Now its just 3-4 bottles. The overall business is also down by 30%,” he added.
Dashrat Miskin, who owns a bar and restaurant, said they are giving a concession of Rs 20 per bottle of beer. “People are scared to have beer. Even those buying hard liquor are not cold soda or soft drinks. They prefer mixing normal water or soda in room temperature with the liquor. Such is the fear among people,” said.
“The price of beer is also high. Hence people are preferring cheap liquor. I used to sell 10 cases of beer every month but now it has dropped to 3-4 cases,” he added.
“Sale of tablets for cold and cough has been made stringent at all pharmacies. So, if our customers they have a cold, cough or sore throat they need to go to a doctor and the doctor may refer them for a swab test. To avoid all these complications, people are simply not preferring beer. While only a few people like warm beer, a majority like it chilled,” he said.
Manjunath Areguli, office deputy superintendent of Dharwad District Exercise Office said that between April and August last year, 2,98,419 boxes of beer were sold. In the same period this year, only 1,38,766 boxes were sold, which is 53.64% lesser.
“People have shunned having cold beverages as they are worried about catching a cold. The direct impact was witnessed on the sale of beer. After takeaway sale of liquor was permitted, people did not prefer to take beer home and refrigerate it before consuming it. That may be one of the reason for the drop in sales,” he said.