What are popular beer styles available in India
1.Wheat Beer
Usually brewed with a significant percentage of Wheat, these beers are usually light yellow colored and hazy. The German version of wheat beer, Hefeweizen, and the Belgian version, Witbier are two of the more popular variants. While Hefeweizens usually have notes of bananas and cloves, Witbiers usually have notes of coriander and citrus. These notes are often a result of the type of yeast and not due to added flavoring.
2.Sours
Sour beers encompass a large selection starting with the popular German Berliner Weisse and Gose, the Belgian Flanders Red Ale, the Belgian Lambic. One of the major differences in this style is the use of wild yeast or bacteria during the fermentation of the beer. This imparts a funky and complex flavor to the beer and can come across as slightly tart or sour. This is one of the hardest styles of beers to get right but when done correctly, can offer a wonderful range of flavors. Weirdly enough, these beers are well accepted by our Indian palate. I guess we accept sour flavors more than we accept bitter flavors (like the IPAs).
3.India Pale Ale
One of the most popular styles in the world right now finds its origins right here in India! In the 1780s, the British were looking for a way to make beer survive the six-month journey to India. A brewer named Hodgson sent out a heavily hopped beer that survived the journey and eventually led to the creation of the India Pale Ale. Hops (plants that are added to beer for flavoring) play a prominent role in this beer and can provide complex flavors that are fruity, floral, and citrus. Hops lend bitterness to this style of beer so it can sometimes come across a tad intimidating. But Indian brewers have found beautiful ways to balance the bitterness using different hops which means that an IPA is just as easy to drink as any other beer style.
4.Saison
A Saison or a Farmhouse ale is a seasonal beer (Saison means season in French) originally brewed by Belgian farmers with the local grains they had on hand, such as barley, rye, and spelled. These beers are rustic in nature and are dry, spicy, fruity, and have a high carbonation strength. Appearance is generally a golden yellow hue.
5.Stouts & Porters
Made famous by one of the world’s most popular beers— Guinness, this 350-year-old British style was first used to describe beers with a high alcohol percentage. These beers are usually darker in color because the malted grain in these beers is roasted, which imparts an almost chocolatey note to these beer styles. What shines in these beers is usually the malt and not the hops, as is the case for IPAs.
Craft beer culture is evolving in India, there are many more styles and sub-styles are available
