Best Beer In India

Not many girls I know like beer or the taste of it but I don't really mind beer atall as long as it tastes good and does not kill me. I am also not one of those would would get a lady half and make it last an hour, I would rather get a pint and be done with it before it starts to warm up. I do get raised eyebrows especially in the village I come from when I order a pint or beer instead of getting some sweet girly drink but I am ok with the “ladette” image as it does not bother me what others think of me as long as I am happy

I am at Manali these days and drinking beer is much more common here in India as opposed to UK for some reason and I also see lots of girls prefer whisky or may be just the ones I met may be? I am not sure.

I did not like the taste of Indian made alcohol and British brands cost a fortune here so I am looking for suggestions from you guys about the best beer in India. I am not looking for higher alcohol percentage as a criteria so it can be light or strong but it is more about the taste then anything else.

I had a few choices last night but I did not risk it and vent for Bacardi instead as I did not know which beer to get and which ones are good and which ones are not.

Let the fight begin I haven't had any beer in India yet so I am going to reserve my opinion until its been a few days.

I would be more interested in Indian brands but foreign brands can also be recommended provided they are easily available in India.

 

I don't like beer that much but if I had to choose then I would go for Kingfisher Ultra. You should have started a poll with the most popular beers, I don't know how you can gather data from every single reply that would be posted here over time. To find a winner you need to have an option for people to vote.

 

That's actually a pretty good question because the only Indian beers that I have heard of are Kingfisher and Cobra, and I'm not even sure how actual Indian they are if that makes sense?

As with a lot of products, where they are made and where they claim to be made, can be two entirely different things.

 

We went around asking for Ultra and found it at one of the shops and also got Premium. I didint like the taste of Ultra so I have been drinking Premium Kingfisher all afternoon. Its lovely out here at Manali. All the girls are at The Lazy Dog pub which is in old Manali and we allowed ourselves to bring our own beer inside How cool is that? We did order food from here and the guy at the counter even agreed to keep our beer in the freezer to keep them cold. One of the girls I am with suggested we do this, It was hard for me to imagine that a pub would let us bring our own drinks inside afterall that is what they sell there

Kingfisher Premium it is for me for the time being until I try others.

 

I don't mind beer - I do usually drink it on vacation though, because I think it's fun to try something that's locally brewed! Same goes for wine and so forth, if it's local to the area I'm traveling to I'll always give it a try.

I don't know a lot though about beers that are particular to India but I'll be watching this thread to see if anyone else has any good suggestions!

 

Yes, Kingfisher premium is a good option for your with alcohol content less than 5%. It is somewhat very light. They are the leaders in the Indian beer market. Kingfisher premium is a good session beer in the early evening hours. Its great flavor with low alcohol content can keep you charged up all the time.

Kingfisher Ultra is a heavy drink with a sharp taste.

 

I can imagine how Indian beer would taste very different to some one not used to them, but how about going all out and trying some brews flavored with a uniquely Indian touch?
SABMiller has Indus Pride, which is a specialty beer brewed with spices and interesting varieties such as - Citrusy Coriander, Citrusy Cardamom, Spicy Fennel and Fiery Cinnamon. The alcohol level is also on the lower side ensuring that the intricate flavor of the hop comes through.
These are now available in most Metro cities, and maybe you can sample them when you're around the bigger towns.

 

There are many micro-breweries in Bangalore, you can look them up if you're planning to visit the place, Bangalore is also the beer capital of India. Branded beers like Kingfisher have a global presence, so you can try them outside India as well.

 

I mentioned in a previous comment cobra beer, and was wondering if it is actually brewed and sold in India. I mentioned it because here in the UK it's sold and advertised as being an Indian lager, but nobody else on the thread as mentioned it so that makes me wonder now if it is actually Indian at all?

 

To be frank, I have never heard of Cobra beer at least in southern and northern parts of India. I haven't seen them in any of the beer outlets. May be the retailers are not interested to sell it due to low commission or they might be happy with the beer king Kingfisher. Are you sure that the company still exists? At least they should have advertised their products in magazines or TV.

Let's wait for any experienced member to comment on Cobra beer.

 

Cobra beer used to be brewed in India for the UK market, it was never meant for the Indian market. The breweries were moved to Europe quite some time back so any relation it has with India is only to do with the Indian origin of the owner.

 

Having looked into it a little, Cobra lager as only been around since 1989 and was originally brewed in Bangalore and then exported to the European markets, rather than sold locally in India.

While it proves quite popular here in the UK, I don't know why they wouldn't distribute it in India also though?

 

Drinkin beer in India is not so common like other countries. But, it's not something you should be ashed of doing. Most of the people like beer, but there aren't so much beer-addicts like in most of the other countries.

The best beer brands in India in my opinion are: my personal favorite -Belgian Stella Artois, then Heineken of course, Italian Peroni and Carlsberg (Danish bear). Also, you should most definitely try Kingfisher(which is the most popular beer in India) and Corona.

Cheers!

 

That's an interesting point as I know you can buy imported lager in most countries you usually end up paying more, and in some countries quite a lot more.

In terms of the price, if you bought for example Stella how much extra would you be paying in comparison to the local brew in India?

 

As you can see Lisa, virtually all of the brands you would be used to back in England are available in India, if you like the stronger beers, Stella is always available in my experience, but you should be able to get Leffe there as well, that makes Stella seem like tap-water in comparison, don't have more than a couple, it'll knock you out. The best Indian beer has to be Kingfisher, but be careful with that as well, its about 8% even though you wouldn't know that if you were drinking it, its great stuff. Theres a mild beer called Royal challenge that I've seen a lot in the Uttar Pradesh region, its incredible, give that a go, most of my friends from Birmingham loved it.

 

I agree, I think that Premium is the way to go. I started off with Ultra but once I tried Premium there was no going back. Other than that there's the usual imported Italian, Irish, and German beers that are usually available.

 

Oooh, those ones definitely sound interesting! It's always nice to have something that's really unique and even a bit out there compared to what we have locally here. I love the idea of the cinnamon one and the coriander one. In fact I'd probably try them all if they were easy to find there.

 

Beautiful and drinking beer,nice. Okay, off topic., I'll stop it. I have plans to visit India and being someone who loves beer and currently doing some private research about it i am very interested in foreign beer. As i understood you did not try any Indian beer but you do not like the taste of alcohol made in India so you need someone's opinion first. My advice to you would be to pick some five or so brands that people here write about and decide when you are not having a night out with your friends. Not all of them at once, of course. You get the point. Tastes will always differ. If someone asks me about the beer i think is good. I say, as for the pills type of beer, i like the original one. Pilsner Urquell is the first pills ever made. It even gave the name to all beer made in the same fashion. Pilsen (Plzen) is a city in Czech republic where all begun. So, if there is Pilsner Urquell there you would not regret.

 

I'm not a huge beer guy, I personally prefer hard liquor! However one of my favorite beers that hail from India would have to be Kalyani Black Label, it has a mild bite and is perfect for me since I don't like it too strong (which they have a version of), or too watery like Haywards. Really the question is a trick one since everyone has their own tastes they enjoy.

 

Does anyone know if India has Chinese brands of beer? In China, we always drink Tsingtao or Harbin. Can you find those in India? I'm not the biggest beer guy, but I love drinking beer on hot days, and I plan to be in India when it's pretty warm.

 

Such an interesting post! I never looked at India as a big beer drinking country, somehow it's more like a hard liquor type of country?