After severe water crisis, it looks like Bengaluru is likely to face a beer crisis sooner rather than later. Shortage of beer is being reported by the city¡¯s pubs and breweries as they are struggling to meet the high demand from customers.?
Despite a surge in beer sales in recent months, breweries find themselves grappling with empty shelves due to persistent overproduction. Consequently, retail stores are experiencing delays in restocking their inventories.
In response to these circumstances, numerous pubs and breweries in the city are considering discontinuing weekend promotions, such as buy 2 get 1 and buy 1 get 1 offers on pitchers.
The beer shortage in Bengaluru primarily stems from increased demand during the summer months. Additionally, manufacturers attribute the shortage to the fruit season and numerous long weekends, during which people often opt to socialize over a beer in the city.
According to a report by Indian Express, a spokesperson from a prominent brewery in Marathahalli stated that both supply and consumption have surpassed expectations this year, catching them unprepared for the heightened demand.
He mentioned that during the summer season, breweries typically introduce fruit-flavored beer, with sales heavily dependent on fruits like mangoes and pineapples. However, this year, sales of fruit beer declined due to lower-quality mangoes, leading consumers to choose regular beer instead.
He further explained that sales continued to escalate due to factors like the heatwave, the IPL season, and the influx of people during extended weekends.
Prithvi, another operational head at a brewery on Residency Road, shared with Indian Express the challenges they face in maintaining cool fermentation temperatures and adequately cooling the wort. The current temperatures make it difficult to ensure optimal conditions for the liquid solution of extracted grains and sugar source, which brewers create and feed to beer yeasts after boiling.