Brewing up a storm

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Started in the city in 2014 to bring craft beer lovers together, this festival has now incorporated new breweries in its line-up. This year, city breweries have collaborated with those outside the city. "We have Berlin-style light and sour variants, Brazilian lager and smoky aged beer. IPAs and ciders have more takers now," says co-founder Nevil Timbadia. They will also serve festival-friendly foods. "Sushi or dimsums are ideal with stouts," informs co-founder Bhakti Mehta.

(From left) Bhakti Mehta, Saumya Khona and Nevil Timbadia

Sweet and seamlessly bitter

Be the first to try the brews being launched here. The first, Lacey Lucy, is a collaboration with Nine Degree Brew House, Bengaluru. "A Belgian-style tripel ale that's strong and aromatic, it uses the local candy mishri," explains Navin Mittal, founder and partner, Gateway Brewing Co. Called The Good. Bitter. Best, the second newbie is the seamlessly bitter India pale ale with a 100 International Bittering Units.

Limited edition experiments

This beer-mead hybr­id called Braggot with origins in 12th century medieval England, is sweet, and made in collaboration with Ce­rana Meadm. The brewery also has options that use Hi­malayan sichuan pepper from Ut­tarakhand and citrus la­tipes from Manipur, for chilli lovers. "We also have a surprise beer for which the main ingredients has been sourced from Kerala," says Abhishek Chin­c­halkar, co-founder and head brewer, Bombay Duck Brewing.

Keeping it glocal

Have a craving for local raw ingredients? Try the ones that use buckwheat, kokum and rose petals at this stall. The wet hop K-IPA, brewed using farm-fresh wet hops from India's only hop farm, is a bitter yet smooth drink. "Bursting with citrus, stonefruit, melon and tropical fruit aromas, our IPA has a sustained bitterness balanced by a malty backbone. We also have mango hefeweizen in collaboration with Legal Draft Brewing Company, Dallas, which has the classic banana and clove flavours," Sameer Patwardhan, head brewer and owner, Kimaya Brewing Company, tells us.

Fruity twist

If guava chilli mead, Christmas apple pie, tamarind mead or juniper berry mead sound appealing to you, then this brewery is what you should be looking at. "We're making a kokum mead and rooibos pineapple mead, in association with a South African meadery. As mead is made by fermenting honey and is naturally sweet, you can pair it with anything that packs a punch," informs Nitin Vishwas, co-founder, Moonshine Meadery.

The festival has a wider range of brews than the previous edition

On November 24, 12 pm to 10 pm
At Mahalaxmi Race Course, Mahalaxmi.
Log on to insider.in
Cost Rs 499 onwards

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