A few years ago, the only beer we were familiar with was the one we were subjected to by the ‘King of Good Times’. Home-brewing was uncommon; there were no regulations, no ingredient supplies and worst of all absolute lack of awareness of craft beer
Mumbai got one its first micro-brewery when duo Rahul Mehra and Krishna Naik quit their jobs to get into the business of beer. They were joined by Navin Mittal armed with a Business Degree from Clark University and over 20 years of experience in product development and marketing. What started off as secret beer making sessions in their kitchen turned to beer workshops for a few enthusiasts. In 2011, they established a business plan to supply beers on tap to various restaurants and bars in Mumbai.
Gateway Brewing Co. the brainchild and hard work of this trio, has paved the way for other craft breweries to establish themselves. In a way, they have authored the unwritten book on setting up and marketing a micro-brewery in Maharashtra.
If you want to rediscover beer as you know it, make sure your weekend plan includes a visit to any one of the thirty plus restaurants or pubs Gateway Brewing Co. is available at. The really quirky names of the beers just add to the mystery of discovering craft-beer. So are you a Doppelganger or Like That Only?
We decided to do something controversial and crush the myth that Indian food and wine do not compliment each other. Director de Cuisine Rahul Akerkar and MasterChef Mukthar Qureshi of Neel – Tote by the Turf combined forces with our very own Sommelier Nikhil Agarwal to put together a perfect 4 course wine dinner of Awadhi cuisine and a selection of eight international and Indian wines.
