Travellers to and from the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru should account for some extra time to spend at the new open-air lounge right outside the main terminal building. Quad BLR, which started operations on 1 January, promises to be an exciting stopover for travellers, with over a dozen F&B outlets and shops, including an outpost of the well-known Whitefield microbrewery Windmills Craftworks.

The pub currently serves six fresh brews in collaboration with Geist, a brewing start-up that delivers freshly brewed craft beers to over 100 pubs and restaurants in Bengaluru. While Windmills is serving up three of its signature beers—the Stout, the Mango Ale, and Hefeweizen—Geist’s selections are its Witty Wit (wheat beer), Unkel Dunkel (dunkelweizen), and Marzen (lager). “All six beers are made at the Geist production brewery in Bengaluru, and are the result of a collaboration between Windmills and Geist,” says Narayan Manepally, CEO of Geist.

“It’s not just travellers—we have seen that F&B sales at the eateries outside the terminal building go up by 30% on weekends, which means locals from nearby neighbourhoods and the mega apartment complexes coming up around the airport are also driving over instead of going all the way to town,” he says. An interesting “airport” twist is that Windmills will have check-in counters and travellers can get their boarding passes right over a mug of ale.

Some of the other eateries at Quad BLR are Burrito Boyz, Cafe Azzure, House of Kebabs, The Wok Shop, and Barley & Grapes Cafe, while retail stores include craft stores and toy shops. A hexagonal structure in the middle of the quadrangle will have five LCD screens, and the airport authority plans to use them for flight updates, promotions, and telecasting sports events.