What's Hoppening

An Appreciation of Brew & Biking in Bushwick

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#flight @ale_asylum in Madison, WI. Some tasty stuff #velveteenhabit #golddigger #madtownnutbrown #stickymcdoogle #unshadowed #pilotbatch009 #beer #yum #fermentdissent

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The Viral Success of Bira 91

What do Apple, Google and LinkedIn have in common with an Indian craft brewing company? If you said the investment of mucho dinero from Silicon Valley firm Sequoia Capital, hi Ankur Jain, can I come work for you? Jain launched his Bira 91, ‘The Original Indian Craft Beer’, last February and has since proved to be a huge hit in the Indian beer market. In less than a year, sales of Bira have passed 35,000 cases a month. Much of this early success can be attributed to rising incomes and a new generation of hip, young drinkers, but one must also credit Jain’s market savvy. He began importing foreign craft brews in 2008 and through that venture developed relationships with distributors throughout India, a huge help considering the difficulty of navigating India’s ferocious distribution chain that big players pay substantial amounts to maintain their standing in. But aside from connections with distributors, Jain has also demonstrated sharpness in his product selection and branding strategy. Instead of brewing radically different beers in hopes of catering to niche beer adventurers/snobs in the Indian market, he chose to brew two types of beer which are similar to those already consumed in great quantities, a lager and a Belgian white. ‘91′ refers to the international country code one uses when dialing India, while the punk rock monkey sported on the logo is Indian, but not too Indian, such as elephants or spices, because young Indians are adverse to clichéd references to ‘exotic’ India. In this way, Jain seeks to create a brand that is ‘unapologetically Indian’, yet appeals to upwardly mobile young Indians.

Image via: sixfiftyml.com

While Bira 91 still has daunting obstacles in its way such as microbreweries only being allowed to sell beer on tap or by the keg, building facilities for brewing in-country (they brew in Belgium currently, hence being able to sell bottled product) and tough competition from both foreign and domestic big-hitters, Jain and his investors at Sequoia expect sales to grow quickly. This will certainly be an interesting story to follow as Bira 91 should be a good indicator of how successful the craft beer industry in India turns out to be.

All info provided comes from: Indian Craft Beer ‘Bira 91’ Gets Venture Backing After Viral Success by Jason Overdorf

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Brooklyn Brews

Tucker Max isn’t the only one that hopes they serve beer in Hell. While there are plenty of obvious downsides to beer (hello, “Buddha gut”, vomit, and impaired judgment!), there are also unexpected benefits to a brew including, among other things, lower risk of type-2 diabetes, reduced risk of heart disease, and the possible prevention of Alzheimer’s. During the Middle Ages, people in every social stratum consumed beer on a daily basis. In moderation it can actually be beneficial not only to a person’s physical health, but their mental and social health as well. Given the benefits of this combination of grain, hops, yeast and water, I am taking it upon myself to keep a somewhat rolling update of beer news all in one place. This will consist of amalgamated news from other sources as well as one man’s search for quality brewpubs/microbreweries in Brooklyn, mostly, but on occasion I’ll venture beyond these borders on the hunt to provide you, my audience with pure unadulterated opinion regarding where to get some quality, and hopefully cheap, beer.

Once and for all, I aim to prove that white boys can have hops too.