Who would’ve thought that the acquired taste for beer would turn into a delicious beverage like that of what Bira has to offer. The very first sip of this sweeter tasting Indian brand, albeit Belgian brewed beer, goes down almost as smoothly as water.
The handcrafted beer by B9 Beverages gets its quirky name, with its ‘B’ written backwards and the word ‘Bira’ followed by the numerical ‘91’, symbolic of India’s country code. The beer is prided on having its concept ‘imagined in India’ with an inspiration from American beer culture. On the red and blue bottles is the image of a monkey with a punk hairdo – the brand mascot. The black and white monkey with its hands on its hips is thus showcasing ‘a spirit of rebellion against the conventional’.
Ankur Jain, whose brainchild this is, earlier an entrepreneur of a healthcare information startup, launched Bira91 in 2015 in two flavours – Bira Blonde (Lager) and Bira White (Belgian-style Wheat Ale). Taking a leaf from the red ocean marketing strategy, Jain decided to foray into the market dominated by biggies such as Kingfisher, Budweiser, Carlsberg Tuborg and Heineken.
He positioned Bira91 as being “youthful, trendy and Indian”. In an interview with John J Eapen, consultant and founder of ‘Tales of Froth’, Jain said, “Making good beer is like making good food. It needs the best ingredients, processes and passion.” Three years after its launch, the brand has added a few more to its collection like Bira Light, Bira Strong, and The IPA, which is The Indian Pale Ale. With seven per cent alcohol, The IPA is a mix of two row pilsner malts, pale malts and wheat malts. While Bira Light is considered to have the lowest calorie option, packing just 90 calories, Bira White, made from wheat grain is regarded as the tastiest. What makes Bira White different is its proportionally lower addition of bitters and the added citrus flavour.
A rebellious case of an Indian business carefully brewed to leave a lasting taste has now received the title of ‘Brewery of the Month’ at the United Nations in June 2018.
