It is raining…microbreweries in Hyderabad. Weeks after one micro brewery threw open its door to patrons on Road No. 36, Banjara Hills, another is set to open on Sunday on the parallel Road No 45. Yet another is likely to open soon at the end of the road overlooking the Durgam Cheruvu. The city is likely to see about six microbreweries within the next few weeks.
Micro breweries filling up beer mugs are youth cult craze across the metros and Hyderabad is the latest entrant to the bandwagon.
“Bottled beer will have preservatives while here we have to brew and sell within 21 days. This ensures that what the patrons drink is fresh. In contrast, Bangalore and Gurgaon don’t have conditions about shelf life,” says A. Vidhata of Prost, pointing to huge chrome fermenters and copper vats with yards of piping running across the place. Once fermented and aged, the beer is kept at a constant 3 degrees Celsius ensuring standard taste, in contrast, bottled beer sees a variation of temperatures from the time it is bottled and transported to the time it is drunk.
Brewing small batches of bespoke beer matched to local taste, microbreweries first landed in Bangalore and have carved a niche among well-heeled clientele.
“We began operations in early July and just word of mouth publicity has ensured that we are full every evening. Tables have to be reserved or you will have to wait for a long time. Per week we are doing a business of Rs. 1 crore,” says Kedar S. of Hylife.
Incidentally, both are retro styled with Hylife having a Jeep hanging from the ceiling and Prost has a vintage Harley Davidson strung up on the wall. While Prost sprawls over 10,000 sft, Hylife is 28,000 sft, and both of them have open air seating arrangements.
The State Government has imposed tough conditions to ensure that the microbreweries don’t end up adding to traffic chaos and have clause about each of the outlet having at least 2,000 sft for parking. Also, the licences issued by the Excise Department cannot be sold or transferred. This has kept brokers and political players at bay, bringing in only keen entrepreneurs.
“We gave a prior-clearance to 20 licence applicants, two have started and one more is in the process of starting operations. We have issued notices to 17 others to report about the status,” said R. V. Chandravadan, Commissioner, Excise Department.
The State Government is yet to take a call on tax percentage with two slabs: Rs. 28 per litre and Rs. 48 per litre under consideration, according to sources.
