Tag Archives: Beer

Beer Cocktails

International Beer Day was celebrated on August 7th. For us, every day is Beer Day however. Here are 3 cocktails to help along.

Michelada

Originally a sort of beer-lemonade rumoured to have been invented by one Michel in Mexico, the Michelada eventually had other sauces and condiments added to it resulting in the spicier recipes of today. This is one version.

Ingredients

  • Lager beer                     1 pint
  • Lime juice                      10 ml
  • Worcestershire sauce  2 dashes
  • Soy sauce                       1 dash
  • Tabasco sauce               1 dash
  • Black pepper                 a pinch
  • Salt                                  a pinch
  • Ice                                    to fill glass
  • Lime peel                        to garnish

Preparation

Build the drink in the glass by first adding all the ingredients except the beer into the glass over lots of ice. Then add the beer, stir gently, garnish with the lime peel and serve.

Narangi

Beer and orange is a delicious combination. We have made it even tastier with the addition of Cointreau and fresh mint. You may never want to drink plain old beer again!

Ingredients

  • Lager beer   1 pint
  • Cointreau     30 ml
  • Orange slices        3
  • Mint leaves  5-6

Preparation

Gently muddle the mint leaves in the glass. Add the Cointreau and top with beer. Toss in the orange slices, serve and savour.

Black Velvet

black-velvet-290x195This classic cocktail was first created by the bartender at the Brook’s Club of London in 1861, to mourn the passing of Queen Victoria’s consort Prince Albert. It was supposed to symbolize the black armbands worn by mourners. You no longer need a reason to mourn to enjoy this drink.

Ingredients

  • Guinness stout      1 can
  • Champagne          1 quart

Preparation

Half-fill the glass with the Guinness. Now gently float the champagne over it by sliding it down against the inside of the glass. Serve immediately.

All recipes, courtesy, the Tulleeho Book of Cocktails.

Confessions of a Brewer – Rohit Parwani

Rohit Parwani is Brewmaster @ The Biere Club, Bangalore

If I wasn’t making beer, I’d beA mathematician

Strangest ingredient I’ve added in my brew has beenThree blind mice :-O Just kidding. Strangest has to be Chilly

Favourite beer town isNamma Bengaluru \m/

People who complain about hoppy beers should beGiven less hoppy ones. Beer for one, beer for all

As a brewer my number one asset is myCreativity 🙂


The only thing people take for granted more than beer isMilk 😐

Something a brewer should never do isPay for beer 😀

The beer I love which everyone else hates is …. The one with the three blind mice. They say its ratty… I love a smooth American IPA

My desert island beer is ….. Desperados, for sure desperados Rohit J. Parwani

Navin Mittal – Co-partner, Gateway Brewing Company

I’m sitting with Navin at the Starbucks located right behind the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai.

One thing you’d like to change about the Indian market:

From a consumer perspective, at least the import duty structure, so that a lot more varieties and brands can be imported. Obviously that will come at at cost to the local industry, so we need to weigh benefits and disadvantages. The benefits are of course, that the consumer will have more choice. If the consumer has more choice, there’s also more competition for the local producers, and we can expect more variety of beers which are flavourful and have character. The duties especially in Maharashtra are very very high. I wish that would change. From a micro brewer or small brewer perspective, I wish the policy was such that it would encourage people like us to set up small units. We are an SSI (small scale industry), but our cost structures are high and disparate compared to those for a large brewery.  Also, we can only sell in kegs and not in bottles. Whether we make money or whether we survive after 2 to 3 years, is all up in the air. If the government is preaching Make in India then they should help us make good beer also.

Who do you think sets drinking trends in India?

Most of the large commercial breweries set the trends. Say UB (United Breweries) with an Oktoberfest, will pull crowds and get mind share. Specialised whisky, wine or beer players operate in a very small segment, they are not in any position to set trends.

Navin Mittal
Navin Mittal

What according to you is the most overrated drinking fad / drink in India at the moment?

I don’t think there is anything which is over rated. It’s how you perceive things at a particular point in time. You might even think that wine, craft beer, single malt are all fads at different points of time.

I do think that what should not happen is that people guzzle on cheap booze, and get drunk and fall down. Instead of that, the message should focus on responsible drinking. “Drink something which tastes better. ” Because of internet there is increased exposure towards craft beer, good wine, good whisky and a lot more people are getting exposed.

What’s the next big thing for India?

Make in India – Indians can make great beverages – why should we think that something which is overseas is the best. Look at the Japanese and the whisky they are making. Look at IPA, a beer made for India, which India has forgotten.

Which is your favourite beverage brand ad campaign?

There are some beer ads I like, although I don’t remember which brands. I also like what Sam Adams does online in terms of  its content.

Which is your favourite Bar in India and why?

Woodside Inn in Colaba is a great bar for a beer drinker and the Harbour Bar at the Taj Mahal hotel is a great bar for the occasional visit.

One fictional character that you’d like to share a drink with?

Iron Man! – I’m a superhero fan. I’d love to sit down with him and drink some concoction which possibly gets some Adamantium into my body. I’d love to sit down with the Avengers and have a drink with them

If you were stranded alone on a deserted island, what’s the one drink that you’d long for?

Any lager which is not watered down, or an ale, which is light but flavourful. For the evening a cocktail like the White Russian, but made with coconut milk not cream.

‘Food Babe’ wins battle with King of Beers

Financial Times – June  13,  2014

She is the self-styled “Food Babe” who has taken on some of the best-known names in the food industry, forcing the likes of Kraft and Subway to remove unhealthy ingredients from their products. Now Vani Hari, an American blogger, has chalked up a victory against two of the world’s biggest brewers.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the maker of Budweiser, and SABMiller, which brews Coors and Miller, have agreed to publish the ingredients in their beers, after Ms Hari launched an online petition on her website earlier this week.

Beervana – The Taste of India – by Snoooze Mode Barney!

Tulleeho’s intrepid researcher tastes 5 Indian Beers.

How many genres of film can you name? Go ahead…Thrillers, Comedy, Musical ummm… Action maybe..and there are many more categories with names as complex as post modernist, neoclassical and several others.

Now imagine for one little moment that the earth is rattled and all that’s left in our consciousness is one and only just one genre. How boring it would be. No cinemas. No variety in emotion. No colour. Listlessness would prevail. Well the situation of beer in India is really much like the “single-genre” film world. All we got is Pilsners! Now I know it isn’t exactly that bad. We’re talking of beer here – Less variety, more variety, who really cares? But what about the predicament of someone who has to sit down and painstakingly taste these similar varieties and come back with their tasting notes – each different and unique. The pleasure of this predicament is mine and I’m going to try and do a good job of it.

The beers I tasted are the usual suspects – the ubiquitous Kingfisher, the international Fosters, the dying London Pilsner, the whiskey-sounding Royal Challenge and the latest kid on the block Cobra.

Color: All the beers are in the straw to golden colour range. Nothing really much between them. If you do have Dr. Watson’s magnifying glass you might say Fosters and Cobra are slightly darker than the other suspects. LP, Kingfisher and RC are slightly paler, more yellow and straw-like in colour comparatively speaking. But this is only just slightly and only if you’ve got superior eyesight such as mine.

Carbonation & Head Formation: The Kingfisher and the RC do a good job as “fizzies.” The head stays for long enough for you to request a song on the juke box and slowly trudge back to find the pretty white blanket lingering about the top of the glass. The Cobra is good enough to be third noticeably the bubble size (like the Fosters) is slightly bigger than the others. The heads of the Fosters and London Pilsner especially the latter prove great at the disappearing act. The carbonation too appears to be in the following descending order Kingfisher, RC, Cobra, Fosters and London Pilsner.

Mouth feel: Very little really to differentiate. However Fosters and Cobra have slightly heavier bodies. Again this is to a very minute degree.

Aroma: The London Pilsner lets out a pungent, sharp yeasty aroma. It is best to not try and sniff at it. You might even get the aroma of a barnyard on close inspection. The Kingfisher has a hoppy and almost piney sort of an aroma. Also you might sense the warmth of the alcohol in the aroma. The Cobra aroma is a lot less intense and at the same time its balanced. You don’t need to cringe while drawing a deep breath over a glass of Cobra. Hints of fruitiness also emanate. Fosters has an almost estery/sour aroma with strong hints of yeast. You may just also register the aroma of red wine perhaps.

Flavor: All the beers seem to balance maltiness with the bitterness of the hops. London Pilsener is watery bland for the first second or two and then its slightly sour (like vinegar) and then lots of hoppy flavour. The aftertaste has a hint of a medicine like/ phenolic taste and thankfully dissipates quickly. The Kingfisher has a mild maltiness with sour/estery notes in between (sour notes are in the beginning only). There are hints of a piney/wooden flavour. Then follows a long, hoppy, bitter but pleasant finish. Cobra is more full flavoured than the other beers. It does exercise your taste buds. You may also sense smoky notes in the middle. The bitterness grows slowly and finishes with hints of bittersweet fruits (pear perhaps). The finish is typically long. Lastly the Fosters left me baffled. Its quite full flavoured not so much as the Cobra but more than the Kingfisher. A fine balance between the malts and the hops. But there are hints of burnt toast and a medicine like sourness. Its difficult to put into perspective but if you will taste any other beer in conjunction with a Fosters you will know what I’m talking about.

I don’t wish to hurt the sentiments of any serious beer brand drinkers with my thoughts above. Any violent reactions to my opinions are pointless. Taste is subjective – go exercise your taste buds and you shall know. Anyways, I always believe in what some great drunk slob had muttered after a beer too many – “The best beer is the bottle in your hand”. Right on, mate. Right on.

Ashish Jasuja