Christian Garrelt Saathoff, the managing director of CG-S, had my attention when he said that beer in Germany is like tea in India. He further quipped that, “we have beer at all time”, much to my scepticism. However, I was willing to rethink my stand once I had sampled the range offered by the premium German brand, Barre which was launched in the country recently. A joint venture by Annamalai Subbiah, the managing director of Dolce Impex, based in Chennai and CG-S, an Indo-German business network based in Lower-Saxony, currently they are bringing down only four flavours. Ranging from sweet, crisp to wheat — they easily pander to different palates.
For those who rush to Puducherry or Bengaluru for their fix of wheat beers — Barre has Weizen — a frothy dark gold wheat beer. In fact, Christian, who has lived in the Garden City as a student, shares that Toit Brewpub’s wheat beer is the closest to their German tastes from an Indian brewery. “What is special about German beer is that it is produced under the strict regulations of the German beer purity law. It came into force in the year 1516 and therefore last year, we celebrated 500 years of its existence. The only allowed ingredients therefore are malt, hops, yeast and water,” he explains.
The cheerful blonde, Barre Natur Alster (a radler — mix of pilsner and natural lemon juice) is to beer what Breezer is to white rum. A sweet and refreshing drink that can barely pass muster as an alcoholic beverage — it does taste a lot like Bira’s White Ale and makes for a tasty shandy. So when Christian described it as, “a classical mix for the summer times, especially after a hike or a bicycle tour” — we were totally game. However we took the bourgeois route and had a foaming mug with brunch and as Christian had warned us “even before you have your meal the hops inside of the beers stimulate the appetite” — so it worked perfectly.
The Barre Pilsener goes well with cheeses, burgers and pizzas, we find. While this one is touted as an all-rounder, as it pairs with almost every food, we find it a tad light. Finally, our favourite is the Barre Festbier — closest to a pint of the local Kingfisher Premium in taste, this one is nearly dark amber and delightfully crisp, with a pleasant aftertaste. We are told that its claim to fame is being a staple at the Oktoberfest. It proves to be great for washing down the greasy tempuras and salty finger snacks at the bar.
With promises of bringing down more German brands to India, Christian signs off on an advisory note, “While beer is for great conversations and to bring people together — in Germany we do not drink every day, and if we are, usually not more than one or two over the day. Important: Never drink alone.”
Available at the Elite TASMAC outlets from next week onward. Rates yet to be finalised.