People flock to the old French town of Puducherry, attracted and intrigued by its unique ambience and character. Now, the union territory's first microbrewery, Catamaran Brewing Company, is adding to the charm, providing visitors another stop for their weekend trip.
Initially, it was largely the youth who visited the microbrewery inaugurated on September 25, 2021. But now, with awareness of crafts beer, the clients have taken a liking and the footfall has gone up. "After nine months of roller coaster rides, we are seeing different age groups enjoying the place. This is because we have something for every age group," informs Rangaraju Narayanasamy, director of the company, with business partner Durgaprasad Radhakrishnan.
Catamaran started by serving four different varieties of beer - Indian summer, a Belgian-style wheat beer, Chingari cider, an apple cider, Vox Populi, a dark lager, and Pondypils, a pilsner. After the overwhelming response, two new styles - Hopsunami, an Indian pale ale and Heyhefe, a hefeweizen - are also available on tap.
Two varieties with seasonal fruit flavours are added every week. The most popular choice is India Summer, with its pleasant sweetness and zesty, citrus flavours, medium-light body, smooth and creamy (it finishes up dry).
The Chingari Cider, which is a low body, refreshing and bubbling with an apple aroma, balanced together with a sweet and tart flavour to mask the warmth of alcohol. It is particularly popular with women.
The light-bodied Pondi Pilsner has a sweet and malty character with a little hop of flavour at the end, while the Vox populi is moderately crisp with low to moderate levels of sweetness with caramel, toffee and smokiness from roasted malt flavours.
Those who prefer something strong can try the Hopsunami and Heyhefe. Hopsunami's earthy and grassy notes hit first with a malty sweetness rounding up with intense hop characters of citrus fruit with esters produced by yeast.
Bitterness lingers on palate, making it dry, but toffee and caramel malt characters wind up the back of the palate, making it sessionable. The Heyhefe is medium-bodied with bready-grainy, sweet character from the wheat and clove and banana-like characters with a hint of bubble gum at the end.
Their craft beer selection uses exotic flavours of local fruits, wheat, spices, edible flowers and roots and are unique and refreshing. For those new to crafts beer, there is a taster tray to try the different varieties.
"As the summer is a ripening season for fruits, we have been able to source fresh fruits directly from farmers and thus, we were able to make Mango Cider (made from Alphonso mangoes from Krishnagiri farms), Mango Gose, Pomelo Seltzer (made from locally grown pomelo fruits), Siragasamba Rice Lager (using traditional rice)," explains Rangaraju.
Several other flavours will soon be on tap, including Guava Cider, Hibiscus Sour Ale, Jamun Pale Ale, and even a JJ Pale Ale, among others, "We want to pay homage to beloved John John Eapen, who educated the people and bought them closer to craft beer," says Rangaraju.
Along with the beer menu, the food has also undergone transformation over the months. Modern South Indian, Pan Asian, French and continental cuisines are available - vazhakai nachos, podi fried idli, spinach walnut phyllo cups, beer batter onion rings, karuvepillai milagu kozhi, Thai chicken satay with peanut butter sauce, curd rice 2.0 and much more.
These are served with exotic mocktails and tiki cocktails created by Shatbhi Basu, the first bartender in India. "We are planning to launch Pondicherry creole food festival and are gearing up for the beer festival in September," says Rangaraju. The boat-shaped construction (with recycled wood) also provides a stage for artistes and upcoming talents.
As a part of the new thriving industry, the microbrewery also expects support from government to scale production. "We pay the excise duties for the installed capacity, but we are producing only around 3500 litres , as we are not permitted to sell in growler. We want the government to permit craft beers in growler takeaway and beach shack tap rooms,"shares Rangaraju.
Here's hoping.