India: Latambarcem Brewers launch bottled craft beer brand MAKA di

Latambarcem Brewers of Goa has launched its bespoke bottled craft beer brand MAKA di, The Hindu BusinessLine reported on October 12.

The brewery has the capacity to produce 10,000 cases of beer a month, which would make it the largest ‘truly’ Indian craft beer producer. The brewery is unique with a first of its kind in-house R&D lab where the brewmasters work on 50-odd recipes at any given point of time.

MAKA di offers five different beer variants – Belgian Blanche, American Lager, Belgian Triple, Honey Ale and the Bavarian Keller. The ingredients for these have been sourced meticulously from various regions they are best known for. The sweet oranges in the Belgian Blanche come from the orange capital of the world - Valencia in Spain, the malts are sourced from Finland, Britain, and Germany, and the wild organic honey for the Honey Ale is sourced from the Jim Corbett National Park in Uttarakhand. The Triple Ale has been curated exclusively in partnership with Lupulus Brasserie in Belgium.

The label design with astronauts as the mascot is reflective of the playful and easy style of the beer.

Co-founder and CEO of Latambarcem Brewers, Aditya Ishan Varshnei, said, “The idea is to have 10 new craft beer styles every year. When my brother and I (Anish Varshnei, co-founder and Chief Production Officer) moved from the US, we wanted to bring into the Indian market the same high-quality beer that is being produced across the world today. India is fast becoming a mature market, even for craft beer, with many breweries experimenting with producing quality beer. We feel the time is right to start looking at producing craft beer in a commercial capacity because demand is set to increase from here.”

Says co-founder and Chief Production Officer, Anish Varshnei, “Craft does not define size. There are no boundaries. We make truly craft beer because we have no boundaries when it comes to ensuring quality based on innovation. We would also like to educate that any style of beer that is not a lager is not necessarily crafted. In fact, the craft is defined by technique, innovation, and quality. Over the next few months, we will create new recipes. We could even do combinations, which no one has tried before.”

11 October, 2020