Mooning over magic brews: Here's all about Hyderabad's new cocktail heaven

Spunky drinks, scrumptious food and swanky décor is what makes Over The Moon Brew Company perfect for an evening.

Chick on platter

IF you’re inclined to take a tour of the newly opened breweries in the city, you might want to stop at Over The Moon Brew Company.

The month-old outlet has a strong following, courtesy the brand name Over The Moon (OTM), a popular club in the city. Located on the busy Gachibowli Road, this microbrewery and fine-dining restaurant is the place-to-go for any of your food and cocktail cravings of infused and smoky drinks, a Sunday brunch or just a beer and burger. The place gives you vibes of a modern, wide-open, edgy space with colourful walls. In one corner is the brewing room, separated by a glass wall and home to eight fermentation tanks, two mash kettles and one boiler, serving four kinds of beer – Lager, German Wheat, Ale and Stout.

Bubblegum burst
As we take a seat, Sylvester Kotnes, the bartender, joins us and helps us choose the best of each from the menu. “We wanted to bring something new and unique to the city. Since we also have a club that serves alcohol, we wanted to make sure this has different options. My experiments with infused drinks helped me here,” says the 26-year-old, who was awarded India’s third best bartender a couple of years ago. Meanwhile, our first cocktail arrives.

Chui Chui

Chui Chui is created with house made bubblegum-infused vodka, served with hibiscus tea garnish. “We mixed four bottles of vodka and around hundred bubble gums and put it in a closed jar for 48 hours,” adds Sylvester. As you listen to him share cocktail related trivia, you know he has some unique tricks up his sleeve. The bar menu offers more than 40 varieties, while cuisines including Mediterranean, Indian and Asian are covered in the food section.

A bit of smoke
The Caribbean Smoker is another cocktail that Sylvester is proud of. The making of this drink involves a smoke machine and is as dramatic as it gets. “White rum, Cointreau and fresh green apple juice is first mixed together and later poured into a glass waterpipe. A smoke machine is fitted through the stem to generate steam,” explains Sylvester as he makes us the drink. After a couple of minutes, he pours the drink into a frozen martini glass. The flavour of green apple gives you a fruity taste, thanks to the sections of green apple and orange pieces filled in the first compartment of the waterpipe.

Sylvester making a smoky drink

Among the other cocktails, we try Old Man’s Beard (a mix of vodka, rum, tequila, gin and stout beer, topped with Bailey’s Irish cream) and Ruby and Pearl (vodka, Cointreau, fresh pomegranate muddled with basil leaves and garnished with silver pearls), both of which taste refreshing.