If you love beer but didn’t attend the Tapped Beer Festival this time, don’t you dare say you love beer! The fest returned to Mumbai on November 24 at Mahalaxmi Racecourse, bringing new craft beers from several microbreweries and exciting new beer collaborations between different creators. The event was a hit – with a packed ground, food stalls running out of popular food dishes, the crowd syncing its dance moves, empty beer glasses piling up, and people cheering random people on while making a beer glass pyramid!
We reached the fest and made our way straight to the beer stalls. Upon enquiring about the new launches and beer collaborations, we made a mental note of 6 beers – 3 new beers and 3 beer collaborations – that we were going to try. And what a great decision that was!
New Beers
Black Forest Stout, Yavasura
Yavasura, a new Pune-based brewery had a limited edition beer on offer. The Black Forest Stout was highly recommended by the friendly folks at the Yavasura stall, and we are glad it was our first beer of the day! The beer had a strong aroma of the chocolate dessert it was named after, and every sip tasted as sweet as it smelled. There were strong notes of Black Forest cake and this beer felt like a celebration with every gulp. We were floored by its taste and roamed around trying to make the glass last for as long as we could.
Breakfast Cereal Stout, Goa Brewing Co.
An exciting new beer launch, the Breakfast Cereal Stout was a product of Goa brewery – Goa Brewing Co. They abided by their goal of introducing non-conformist modern beers to experimental beer lovers by having this breakfast beer emit the aroma of milk & cereal and taste like beer & cereal. Well, once this stout is available in the market, my weekend breakfasts will be set!
Jamun Melomel, Cerana Meads
A new Nashik-based meadery, Cerana Meads has a product portfolio of Indian-flavoured meads in its pocket. Jamun Melomel mead was recommended by their team, and so we had to try it! The mead didn’t taste or smell much like jamun but had slight notes of sourness. The beverage should have had a thicker texture, sweeter taste and medium to high flavour of jamun fruit to have made a mark on us.
Beer Collaborations
Mango Hefeweizen, Kimaya and Legal Draft Brewing Company
The Pune-based boutique brewery Kimaya collaborated with Dallas-based Legal Draft Brewing Company to brew this delicious serving of Mango Hefeweizen. It had a strong aroma of banana and cloves, and medium notes of mango flavour to it. All in all, it was a decent new beer. We are excited to have every season be mango season with this new launch.
Munich Helles, Crafters Tap House and Brewbot
A beer collaboration between Crafters Tap House and Brewbot, Munich Helles is a German lager. The light beer uses Munich malt as its main ingredient, and emanates a spicy herbal aroma. The taste was well-balanced with a subtle sweetness finished by bitter hoppy flavours. It is your everyday lager, a beer you would sit down with after work.
Kerala Passionfruit Ale, Bombay Duck Brewing and Woodside Inn
Bombay Duck Brewing, a Mumbai-based craft brewery, collaborated with Woodside Inn restro bar to bring us this experimental brew. Brewed from fresh passionfruits from a Kerala farm, the beer will be used as a base for the Passionfruit IPA at Woodside Inn from December onwards. The ale had a slight fruity flavour to it, and seemed like the right beer to end our evening with because of its light texture.
The Unsobered team’s favourite was hands down the Black Forest Stout by Yavasura. It was a unique brew, the likes of which we had never tasted before. It was strong and temptingly delicious! It was really exciting to taste all the new beers on offer and we can’t wait for them to hit the market. The beer collaborations between different breweries were also great as the breweries were able to pack the best of both worlds in a single serving. We are already looking forward to the next round of Tapped Beer Fest. Are you? Tell us in the comments below.
