Crafting Beer

A handful of beer enthusiasts is experimenting with local ingredients from mango pulp to coriander seeds, saffron and spring flowers, to add zest to your beer

- SMITA TRIPATHI

PLATO, THE famous Greek philosopher who probably had an answer to every query, is supposed to have said, “He was a wise man who invented beer.” Little wonder, beer is one of the largest consumed alcoholic drinks in the world, with global consumption of 178 million kilolitres in 2020. We Indians, too, love our beer. Consider this: In terms of volume, the beer market was valued at over 5,500 million litres in 2020 and is expected to reach over 9,000 million litres by 2025, expanding at a CAGR of about 10.89 per cent between 2021 and 2025, per a report from Research and Markets.

And while most of the beer is manufactured by the big daddies of the alco-bev industry, over the past few years there has been a storm brewing in the proverbial beer mug. A group of passionate and enthusiastic beer lovers has set up their own breweries, introducing craft beer to thirsty drinkers. And while this is still a small market (around 2-3 per cent for craft beers), it is growing exponentially. Per the report, the market is forecast to grow at 108 per cent in volume terms.