Some Amazing Beer Facts

Somewhere around 1750 BC, the "Code of Hammurabi" was established in Babylonia. This law regulated one aspect of the operation of taverns and inns. Specifically, it ruled that any proprietors who served watered-down beer would be put to death. How? They would be drowned in their own poor quality beer!

In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts. So in old England, when customers got unruly, the bartender used to yell at them to mind their own pints and quarts and settle down. From where we get "mind your own P's and Q's".

In ancient Mesopotamia they had a goddess of beer. Her name is Siris and her priestesses brewed beer (possibly as part of a ritual??).

In 1963, Jim Whitaker became the first American to reach the summit of Mt. Everest. A can of Seattle's own Rainier Beer made the ascent with him.

Sources say Women have brewed more beer than men in the History of Beer. Sister Doris in Bavaria brews Mallersdorf lager

Guiness world record
Steven Petrosino drank 1 liter of beer (33 ounces) in 1.3 seconds on June 22, 1977 at the Gingerbreadman in Carlise, PA, a 56% improvement over the previous world record set several years earlier by Peter Dowdeswell of England (2.3 seconds for 1 liter).

Scholars who have studied the ancient text suggest that Jesus actually turned water into beer, not wine. There is a rising school of thought to pointing out that it is very likely, if not certain, that it was beer which was served at the last supper. The blood of Christ was beer! Furthermore, a historical and anthropological study has suggested that Noah's arc was actually a barge hauling beer on the Euphrates

It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the "honey month", or what we know today as the "honeymoon".
Historians have called beer the national drink of ancient Egypt. The pharoah appointed a "royal chief beer inspector" to protect its quality

Indus Pride

SABMiller has announced the launch a new national beer brand in India called Indus Pride.

According to the company, the new beer has been created by SABMiller to grow the mild beer segment of the Indian market.
Indus Pride is made with 100% barley malt, the company said.
SABMiller is also launching a non-alcoholic brand extension, which will be supported through advertising.
Jean-Marc Delpon de Vaux, SABMiller India's managing director, said: "In order to retain and build on our strong position in India, we wanted to launch a mainstream, mild beer which has the ability to compete nationally. We believe that the introduction of Indus Pride gives us the comprehensive national portfolio needed for long term success in India."

Our best wishes are with SABMiller and hope it is the birth of a star in the mainstream mild section.

Australian Coopers beer to strike Indian market soon

Indians can now enjoy premium quality Australian beer as Cooper`s Brewery is ready to hit the country`s market soon, reports Economic Times.

The Adelaide-based Coopers Brewery has struck an export deal with Bangalore-based import company, DC Johar & Sons, to ship beer to India.

The first shipment of 400 cases of Coopers Pale Ale, Coopers Sparkling Ale and Coopers Stout is expected to reach India this week.

The company had previously shipped malt extract and home brew kits to India, however, this would be its first beer shipment to the country on a trial basis

Source: IRIS NEWS DIGEST (10 October 2008)

Kingfisher's Blue

A recent article in the Economic talks about the beer market buzzing with the news of UB coming out with two new beers in the domestic premium category to take on International brands like Budweiser, Carlsberg and the already present Fosters. With the Indian growth story alluring many multinationals, the domestic premium segment which was primarily the foothold of Fosters has seen a surge in the new entrants, the latest being Kingfisher Ultra and Kingfisher Blue. The Blue seems to have been cross positioned with Budweiser and Carlsberg with an alcohol content of 6% which is marginally higher than its flagship brand Kingfisher. The Ultra however seems to be keen on tapping the mild segment. The move seems to be an interesting one as UB’s new partner Heineken seems to be gearing to enter the Indian market. Heineken, which is taking 37.5% stake in UB after the worldwide acquisition of Scottish & Newcastle, appears to be preparing ground for APB’s continued presence in the domestic market, which is hotly contested by India’s largest brewer. The APB operations in India with Tiger as its flagship brand still remain a stumbling block in UB’s path. The Ultra and Blue pricing could well hinge upon the agreement which UB reaches with Heineken

Hyderabad's beer mkt to grow to $150m by 2011

Hyderabadi beer guzzlers have a reason to smile. Now they need not experience beer shortages anymore because the Nizam city is fast becoming the hub of MNC breweries. Hyderabad is indeed becoming the emerging beer capital of India.



Hyderabad is famous for its Biryani, and the city is now brewing lots of beer to gulp. Foreign breweries are rushing to Hyderabad to claim a pint of the most lucrative beer market in the country.



In the last two years, four brewing giants like South African-based Sab-Miller, US-based Anheuser-Busch, UK-based Cobra and recently Singapore-based Asia-Pacific Breweries have set up shop in Hyderabad.



CNBC TV18 learns that Belgian-based InBev and Danish-Carlsberg may also well be on their way .



The reason for breweries rushing to Hyderabad is the incentives companies receive from the government- land and water. The state is accomodating as it wants to earn revenues of Rs 10,000 crore from alcoholic beverages by 2008-09.



Vivek Chhabra, Regional Director, South Asia Pacific Breweries said,"The attitude of the government is very positive in welcoming foreign investment and also the availability of water and land in the state. It is a good mix and a friendly environment to do business."



What also works in the city's favour is that Hyderabad gulps 10 -12 % of the beer consumed in the country. Last year, Hyderabad devoured 14 lakh hectoliters of beer, and this market is estimated to grow to USD 150 million by 2011.



With a large young population, a hot climate for most of the year and government's inclination to promote milder drinks such as beer over spirits, the future of the Hyderabad beer business certainly looks to be zooming.

Source: Visvanath Pilla and Vivin Mathew, CNBC TV-18

The Beer Man Song

Hey all
This song is for every beer lover like me.
..........................................................................................................................................................................
Spent the night with Jim Beam and Johnny Walker Red,
Woke up with a freight train runnin' through my head,
Ohh I'm a beer man...
Bobby's more the wine kind,
Donny does his shots;
Sammy sips martinis,
Willy smokes pot,
but I'm a beer man...


I've done a little steppin' out there on a limb,
but my open mind winds up closed again,
I like brown bottles and aluminum cans,
Simple maybe...
but that's who I am...
Hey I'M JUST A BEER MAN.

Take your caviar and that fish that ain't cooked,
take if off a cracker and throw it on a hook,
I'm a beer man...
Oh and if I was a rich man tell ya what I'd do,
I'd be the same old, plain old, guy you always knew,
just a beer man...

I've done a little steppin' out there on a limb,
but my open mind winds up closed again,
I like brown bottles and aluminum cans,
Call me simple ...
but that's who I am...
Hey I'M JUST A BEER MAN.
..........................................................................................................................................................................

Simple yet brilliant...guess should be our anthem.

The Great Indian Challenge

Indians love their booze, but beer, it seems, leaves them cold. The country ranks tops globally in consumption of whisky, but it's somewhere near the bottom in beer drinking. So why is just about everyone in the brewing industry scrambling to get a piece of the market?

Despite the obvious preference Indians have for distilled spirits, beer makers worldwide think there's great potential for selling their brews in the country.
A hot climate, an even hotter economy, and an enormous youth population look like an unbeatable combination in the eyes of Britain's SABMiller and Scottish & Newcastle, Heinekenof the Netherlands, and Denmark's Carlsberg.

Although India boasts the world's second most populous nation, when it comes to beer it barely figures on the map—leaving plenty of upside for brewers who can get in early. Annual per capita consumption stands at just 0.6 liters, or about a pint, compared with 23 liters in China, an average of 73 across Europe, and 78 in the U.S. Getting Indians to switch from liquor to beer won't be easy. Brewers must contend with a dizzying list of bureaucratic restrictions that make it tough and expensive to win customers and to build a national footprint. Steep tariffs render imports uncompetitive. And state excise taxes of as much as 150% can push the price of a pint of domestic brew up to more than Rs.100, or about triple what a shot of local whisky might cost.
"The market has huge complexities," says Jean-Marc Delphon de Vaux, managing director of SABMiller India. "You have to work it bottom-up, state by state."

Ads for beer are banned. As a result, brewers have to be creative in building their brands on a national scale. SABMiller, for instance, sells a mineral water called Royal Challenge—not coincidentally the name of one of its lagers. TV spots for the water are indistinguishable from traditional beer ads, down to the label on the bottle. The only difference: The actors guzzle a clear liquid rather than amber-colored suds. "It looks like a beer ad, but we sell water," says Delphon de Vaux.

In short, international brewers will be charged with crafting a beer culture in India largely from scratch. In that, at least, they have demographics in their favor. Roughly 60% of the population is under 30. What's more, incomes are rising, powered by an economy that's growing at 9%-plus. These trends are expected to fuel growth in beer consumption of up to 15% a year through the end of the decade.

To date, the biggest beneficiary of the surge has been Kingfisher. The brand rules the market, with a 45% share. But closing in is SABMiller, which over the past six years has spent an estimated $600 million in India to buy 11 local breweries. Today, the company's five brands command 37% of the market. And Heine-ken, though it's small today, is hoping to boost its profile following its $18 million purchase last year of a controlling stake in India's Aurangabad Breweries Ltd. "India," says Vivek Chhabra, Heineken's country chief, "is the place to be."