The city’s watering holes have got a new address — the microbreweries. To the uninitiated, a microbrewery is as a place that brews small amounts of beer, for sale to customers on the premises. From experimenting with local ingredients to making a fruity concoction of flavours, brewmasters are going all out to offer the perfect quaff. MetroPlus reviews the two microbreweries in Visakhapatnam that opened recently.
Myz-Uno
A wide wooden door closes behind me and the energy of the place grips me as I step into the large space. Most of it is occupied by wooden chairs and tables — the walls decked up with the overwhelming theme of Godfather and The Beatles and interiors featuring reclaimed material like masonry brick. A little ahead is a strip of bar stools and a nook that lends a cosy lounge look. What has brought me here is at the far end of the hall though. I am at Myz-Uno at VIP Road, sniffing its craft beer, stored in huge shining steel casks displayed behind the bar counter.
Myz-Uno is one of the two new micro-breweries in Visakhapatnam which crafts its own beer. Bottled and brewed in-house, these microbreweries cater to the different tastes and flavour preferences of beer lovers. Started in January this year, Myz-Uno has been a trendsetter in many ways. Spearheaded by a woman, Myz-Uno’s popularity has soared as much for its craft beer as for its elaborate fine dining menu with 200 dishes from seven cuisines.
“We wanted to create a unique space combing brewery, fine dining and clubbing,” says the microbrewery’s founder Rasagna R Dharmana. The concept was very new to Visakhapatnam, a city that hardly had any presence of a standalone pub. Interestingly, it was this vacuum that worked in favour of Myz-Uno. With a Belgium-themed concept, replicating the interior décor of Europe’s popular microbreweries, and an investment of ₹6 crore, Myz-Uno came as a whiff of fresh air to the city. There were challenges, however. “People would pass comments about how could I, being a woman, support a microbrewery culture in the city! It was, perhaps, a culture shock for them. And there were also the ones who congratulated me for bringing in a new concept to the city,” says Dharmana. A lot has changed over the past four months. Today the place, interestingly, is being frequented by many women, especially at its 30-seater private dining area. The nights come alive with music when the DJ takes over. With separate sections for the dance floor, club area and fine dining, Myz-Uno has been welcoming a mixed crowd — each finding his or her own comfort zone in a corner of the 9,000 sq ft space of the micro-brewery.
Theme nights
After the IPL season, Myz-Uno will start Sunday sundowners from 4 pm to 7 pm with a buffet and also theme nights starting with Retro on Tuesdays for people above 50 years of age, Navy nights on Mondays and ladies nights on Thursdays. The brewery currently serves five beer flavours of Belgium wheat, German wheat, saison, red ale and stout beer. “The Belgium wheat has been flying off the shelves and so has the German wheat beer,” says Umang Nair, the brewmaster.
Armed with a Master’s degree in brewing from the US and Germany and six years of work experience, Nair takes the front seat naturally in the microbrewery. He explains the process of using of hops and yeast in the process. “The hops give the flavour. For instance, in Belgium wheat we add orange peel and coriander seeds,” he says. Buoyed by the initial feedback from the Vizag crowd, Nair plans to introduce flavours like hibiscus saison and cider soon.
Ironhill
‘No stupid people beyond this point’ is a sign board that welcomed me to Ironhill, the city’s other brewery, situated in Siripuram. A step inside and I am in the company of a plate armour donning mannequin at the reception. Cycle chains and chain rings help warm yellow lights descend from the ceiling. While miniatures of aircraft, bicycles and bikes adorn the walls of the brewery, it has number plates from various countries on its stairs which lead to seating space on the floor above.
Started last year during the promising festive month of December, the brewery was an end to the Vizagites’ quest for freshly brewed drinks. The brewery serves ciders, lagers, beers and ale along with food from five cuisines.
Bheemesh Addppa, the brewmaster says, “The advantage of going to a microbrewery is that every time you walk in there is something new. With the change in the season, we try to incorporate seasonal fruits for flavours. Currently, it is mango cider.We are now planning to brew mango-flavoured beer.” Addppa also looks after their breweries based in Vijaywada and Bengaluru.
Truth be told, the joy is in finding your perfect taste by tasting each drink provided as samples in their iconic chai glasses. The brewery is currently serving German wheat beer, apple cider and Belgian strong ale. It also plans to incorporate strawberry-flavoured brews.
“It is overwhelming to see people actually enjoying the experiments that we do. From my experience, I see more ladies picking up apple cider, which is sweet. Men, on the other hand pick up strong beers,” adds Addppa who has been in the industry for the past seven years.
Talking about handling three breweries and tweaking the menu to suit the city, Teju Chekuri, director of Ironhill, says, “There is not much difference between the brews offered in Hyderabad and Vizag. Just that in Hyderabad we have six types of beers while in Visakhapatnam, we have four. However, we had to tweak the food menu and incorporate local food items to build a connection,” he said.
