Greetings, beer lovers! Summer’s officially upon us, and it couldn’t be a better time to crack open a few pints, and lounge about for hours, wishing for rain.
But it has been a busy couple of weeks lately, with a great deal of brewing and a select bunch of events, leading to the unavoidable partying, toasting and over-indulgence thereafter. Did I mention, binge drinking and more mouth-watering flavours of craft beer?
Coming up this Sunday is the annual beer festival called Tapped, set to be held in Mumbai. A definite must-visit for enthusiasts of craft and artisanal beer. Breweries from Pune and Mumbai will showcase their wares at the festival, and a popular name from town – Toit will be there too.
Toit recently opened their first tap room in Mumbai, and their brewery that supplies to this tap room is based in Sanaswadi, Pune. I’m keen to see whether they offer the same beers that we are served in Bengaluru, or if Mumbai is offered something special by their Master Brewer Matthew.
Rakau-bye baby
For those of you who cannot make it to Mumbai, pop across to Red Rhino in Whitefield for a very interesting IPA that is hopefully going to be on tap by late next week. This batch has been brewed with a New Zealand hop called Rakau, which imparts notes of passion fruit, peaches and apricots. The Hefeweizen at Red Rhino is pretty darn good too!
On the Geist front, some sad news for all of us Geist NEIPA lovers is that the first batch of this beer is now officially sold out. I’m hoping that the response Geist saw from their patrons will motivate them to brew this once more very soon, and perhaps even make it one of their regular offerings.
Meanwhile, the Brewtalks series that has now been held twice in Bengaluru, will be back again in April. This time, it’s expected to be held at Biere Street in Whitefield, but the details are yet to be confirmed. I’ll let you know more as soon as I do!
That’s it for now folks! Allow me to pop back back into the brewery, toss in some hops, and watch that sweet, sweet wort bubbling away in my boil kettle. More on the joys of being a brewer soon! Cheers and safe drinking, my friends!
George Jacob is the Founder of The Beer Chronicles.