Experts caution Russia-Ukraine crisis may impact the price for brewers
Bangalore : Data from the Karnataka excise department shows a 13 percent increase in beer consumption in 2021-22 compared to the previous year.
Brewers say the business has crossed pre-pandemic levels.
“There has been a great response. We have seen a 40 percent rise in (beer) sales, compared to pre-pandemic since the last two years were a washout. In terms of quantity, we used to sell 3000 liters of beer and now we almost did 6000 liters last month,” said Shashidar Kotian, head brewer at Stories Breweries.
Bangalore, the pub capital of the country, has more than 60 microbreweries. While craft beer is the crowd favorite, other branded beers are also not far behind. Customers say they prefer to have their drink at home.
“I often have a beer during the summers. BIRA is one of my preferences. With this ugly summer, I feel very good and like to go out with my friends (for a drink), but generally, I like to have my chilled beer at home,” said Deepanshu Arora, a consumer.
According to reports, the Karnataka excise department exceeded its revenue target of Rs24000 crore recently. 237.82 lakh carton boxes were sold in 2020-21 whereas 268.83 lakh carton boxes were sold in 2021-22.
Experts are confident that this season will be one of the best for the beer industry.
“The early summer has helped. The additional problem for the beer industry was that the two lockdowns happened in peak beer demand season, in which it (beer) contributes40 percent of the total alcohol sales,” said Vinod Giri, director-general of the Confederation of Indian Alcoholic Companies.
