GHAZIABAD: The city will soon have a place where freshly brewed beer will flow from taps and fill mugs. The owner of an Indirapuram-based restaurant cum bar has bagged the licence to set up Ghaziabad’s first microbrewery.
The microbrewery is likely to be opened at Cinnamon Kitchen in Aditya City Centre, located in one of the busiest parts of Indirapuram, in about two months. Work on setting up the apparatus has started, but excise officials said that it would take at least eight weeks for the setup to be complete.
“The licence for setting up the city’s first microbrewery has been given to Present Food and Beverages Pvt Ltd, which runs Cinnamon Kitchen in Indirapuram,” said Mubarak Ali, the district excise officer. “After the microbrewery is set up, the licencee will have to intimate the excise commissioner in Lucknow. A team will inspect the microbrewery before it gives permission for operation. The entire process may take two months,” he added.
Madhur Gupta, who owns Cinnamon Kitchen, said it would take around Rs 30 lakh to set up the microbrewery. “Given the city’s love for beer, this should be an instant hit. While the modalities are not clear yet, as of now, we have permission to produce 120 litres of beer a day,” he added.
Located within a few minutes’ driving distance of scores of housing societies that line the streets around Aditya Mall, Cinnamon Kitchen is upbeat about the microbrewery ‘s business potentional. “I’m targeting young customers, mostly aged between 25 and 30 years. This city loves its beer. Consumption of beer at my bar goes up to 2,000 litres a month. The young crowd visits microbreweries in places (Gurgaon and one in Delhi). Now, they don’t need to go there,” Gupta said.
The restaurateur, however, expressed concern about higher prices of liquor in UP than neighbours Delhi and Haryana, identifying that as a possible deterrent to microbrewery ventures in UP, particularly NCR. Gupta hopes the growing urban population of Indirapuram will make up for it.
Over the years, Indirapuram has become home to a substantial migratory population of young executives who have come to NCR to work. As the area shares its borders with Delhi and Noida, it has emerged as a preferred destination for those working in either city, evident in the large number of housing socieities that have come up there.
Kumar Anupam, who works with an IT company in Delhi and stays in Indirapuram, is excited at the prospect of having a microbrewery closer home. “I have loved microbreweries during my visits to Bangalore and would often wonder why we can’t have one in Ghaziabad. The very prospect of it excites me,” he said.
Market observers, however, said UP needs to change its excise policy and bring down liquor rates to stay competitive. UP’s first microbrewery opened in Agra this month. A microbrewery licence for Noida is also likely to be given in April.