Cheer Chatty

Anudeep Reddy

noreply@blogger.com (Cheers Chatty) — Wed, 5 Aug 2020 21:56:00 -0700

A Beer guy. Certified BJCP judge and Certified Cicerone®. Mechanical Engineer.

1. What was your first brew?

Double IPA. I know it’s weird lol. Normally we expect answers like Hefeweizen or a Belgian Wit but I threw myself a challenge at this. Of course on the small scale 😉

2. How did you get in to this job?
Started brewing as a hobby while working as a full-time Engineer. Hobby grew into passion pretty quick and made me choose a career around beer full-time. I’m not a professional brewer but I work with brewers and consumers to take the beer education forward.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

So far, it should be a Hefeweizen. Keeping the basics strong 💪🏼

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by other?

Oh, well! That’s a tough call. So many great beers to pick from. Let’s simplify it further by picking up some uniquely good local craft beers that I’ve tried so far -

Vintage Stock Ale & Guava Chilli Gose by Alchemy
Coconut Brown Ale by Arbor
Dark Knight by Toit
Saint & Sinner by Goa Brewing Company
Noir Tangerine by Yavasura

I mean, the list goes on....

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

I’d love to brew mixed-fermentation beers. It has always been a fascinating experience for me to have tasted beers with different strains of yeast and bacteria giving out their own identity to the beers. That’s something I’d go crazy about. Also, I’d love to work on the revival of historical beer styles.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

I’d call it ‘Freedom’ and it would be a true west coast style IPA which is off-limits in terms of balance. It’s gonna be wild and unfiltered.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

This is another tough one. Buy me an IPA and we’re good friends haha.

I’m more into the West cost IPAs and the New England IPAs, not going further into the milkshake category. We’ll keep that for later 😁

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

When it comes to hops, Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic, Amarillo, Cascade and Centennial would be the first ones that come into my mind. Fruity, dank and piney flavours all the way!

9. What’s your favourite malt variety?

Going with the base malt, I really enjoy beers with a lot of Vienna malt in the grist and for specialty malts, I’d love to pick the ones that impart dark fruit flavors in beer like Special B malt or aroma malt.

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

For all the light beers and hop forward beers, I prefer them drinking fresh on draught any day. My second choice would be cans(for the same segment). And, cans are great on a warm sunny day on the beach #justsaying

For the malty rich, complex and potent beers, I prefer bottles so that I can cellar them and consume it after years.

"Buy me an IPA and we’re good friends... haha."

Saurabh Kumar, Winemaker-SIQERA

noreply@blogger.com (Cheers Chatty) — Thu, 9 Jul 2020 03:58:00 -0700

1. What was your first brew?

I did my graduation and post graduation in wine. I made many wines, ciders and meads during my college days but the wine I made as a winemaker was Strawberry wine.

2. How did you get in to this job?

During my post graduation I participated in a wine fest as a volunteer for Wildberry Beverages. I made wine during my graduation and the Wildberry team really liked it. They offered my a job as a winemaker and I joined them after college. I worked there for 2 years and then joined Siqera in 2019.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

I have 2 favourites, one is Siqera Mango Cider and the other one is 2017 Vintage Strawberry wine from Wildberry, which won Silver Medal in Drink outside grape competition in U.S.A.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by other?

Karwanda Cider by Doolally.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

I would like to experiment with as many fruits as I can find in different styles of cider, mead and wine.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

It would be Braggot and I would name it Belgian mead.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

I love IPA. Since I’m a Cider maker, I love Scrumpy.

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Chinook and Citra. I have tried them in mead and cider and it turned out pretty good.
I want to keep experimenting with more hop varieties.

9. What’s your favourite malt variety?

Instead of malt, I can tell you my favourite fruits, which are Kingston Black Apple and Northern Spy Apple.

10. What do you prefer? Draught, bottle or cans?

I think its difficult to choose one, it depends on the style of wine, cider or mead.

Amit Mishra

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 22:38:00 -0700

Amit Mishra - Brewmaster, Bier Library/ Kadak - India

1. What was your first brew?

Hefeweizen.

2. How did you get this job?

After Masters got recommended to a Brewery in Panchkula.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

White IPA.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Averbode by Huyghe Brewery Belgium.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

Russian River Supplication (Sour).

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

End Of The World - DIPA.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Each one has its own challenge while brewing so no single pick.

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Styrian Goldings and Huell Melon.

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?
Maris Otter Pale Ale.

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Draught.

Ishan Grover

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Tue, 21 Apr 2020 22:33:00 -0700

Ishan Grover - Co-Founder (Brewer), Kadak - India

1. What was your first brew?

Homebrew with my College mate now Co-founder of Kadak, Amit Mishra. We brewed a batch of pale ale and I the whole batch was contaminated.

2. How did you get this job?

After finishing my course at Heriot watt University. I got an opportunity to work for Lemp Brewing co. USA, who was opening India's 1st International Microbrewery.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Belgian strong ale. This is one of my personal favourite.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

I like BEACH Shack by Arbor.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

Barrel-Aged Sours.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

#kadak. Belgian strong ale.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Classic Ipa+ Lambics.

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Mosaic and Galaxy.

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

Pale Malt. Without it beer is incomplete.

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

I Love Beer.

Gagandeep

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Mon, 6 Apr 2020 04:40:00 -0700

Gagandeep - Head Brewer, Hops n Grains, Haryana - India

1. What was your first brew?

It was Lager beer in Mount Shivalik Breweries Limited (Thunderbolt Beer).

2. How did you get this job?

After completing B.Tech in Biotechnology, I joined Mount Shivalik Breweries 12 years ago. Going forward, initially, I got the opportunity to work in hops n grains under Dr Cariappa. since then, from the past 10 years, I am working as Head Brewer in Hops N Grains/The Great Bear.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Kölsch Beer

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

It's difficult to choose, but if I have to pick one that would be Stout by Toit.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

Gluten-free beer is on my list for a long time.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

The name would be Hoppy Ending beer with full of dry hops.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Stout

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

East Kent Golding

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

Special B, Crystal

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Style of packaging doesn’t matter but it should be a good one.

Gesu Parate

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Tue, 31 Mar 2020 14:01:00 -0700

Gesu Parate - Assistant Brewer, 153 Biere Street, Bangalore - India

1. What was your first brew?

Hefeweizen at Crafters, Powai

2. How did you get this job?

I had done my Masters in Wine, Brewing and Alcohol Technology with Brewing as a major subject. After my internship completion at Goa Brewing company, I received a job of an assistant brewer at 153 Biere street through Mr Rohit Parwani.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Passion Fruit Ale, since it was my first own recipe.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Passion Fruit Ale, since it was my first own recipe.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

Mostly IPA but also fruit-infused ales

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

I'm not a fan of naming a beer as a specific unit and would much rather that our beers are known by the style that they represent. This helps our customers to taste and identify beer styles that they can order at other breweries too.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

IPA

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Mosaic and Cascade

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

Crystal oak

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

I like all of them, but the beer should be good

Hrishikesh Sasane

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Thu, 26 Mar 2020 16:20:00 -0700

Hrishikesh Sasane - Brewmaster , The Beer Chronicles , Bangalore - India

1. What was your first brew?

While I brewed many batches under the guidance of the head brewer of Doolally, and then the head brewer of Kiva, it was about 4.5 years ago that I brewed my first batch, a Hefeweizen, all alone at Effingut.

2. How did you get this job?

While pursuing my MSc, I also volunteered my time at Doolally where, Immediately after I passed out of college, I was absorbed into the Doolally team as an Assistant Brewer.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

All my brews are my favourite (haha)! But the one that has really stood out, and is my daily drinker, is the Hefeweizen I used to brew for Effingut which has won a gold medal at an event sponsored by Independence Brewing Company in Pune.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

The Smoked Mead brewed by Doolally.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

That's a hard one to answer since I have brewed almost every style that I can think of. Here at TBC, we are constantly experimenting so I'm pretty much brewing new stuff all the time.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

That's an easy one - Hefeweizen.

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

I don't have a specific variety that I really like as such. With the large variety of hops being available to us today, there are so many aromas and flavour profiles to choose from.

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

My answer to this is the same as the hops.

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Draught, always.

Laxmi Narayan

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 09:23:00 -0700

Laxmi Narayan - Brewer, Chandigarh - India

1. What was your first brew?

Red ALE

2. How did you get this job?

Love & Passion.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Belgian wit

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Scotch ale

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

Barrel-aged lager.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

Wild macho, it will be a lager beer which is aged in a barrel .. quality like Scottish whiskey.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Lager

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Cascade

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

All dark Malts

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Cans and Bottles

Rakesh Sahoo

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 09:15:00 -0700

Rakesh Sahoo - Brewer, Hops n Grains, Chandigarh - India

1. What was your first brew?

Wheat Beer

2. How did you get this job?

Started my career as F&B Controller and due to some good luck got trained here at Hops n Grains. Still brewing for them.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Munich Lager

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Belgian Wheat at The Great Bear brewed by Mr Gagandeep.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

Wheat Beer

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

"Vedweiser" A Lager Beer.

Light and Smooth like Budweiser with the slight aroma of Indian Herbs.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Lager

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Magnum & Cascade

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

Munich Malt

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Cans

Amit Saini: Head Brewer

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 09:08:00 -0700

Amit Saini - Head Brewer, Chandigarh - India

1. What was your first brew?

German Lager

2. How did you get this job?

I completed M.Tech ( biotechnology) specialisation in fermentation technology. I did my first job in the soft beverage industry then I entered in this industry through my colleague Rahul. After that did job with German Brewmaster Habmann Paul.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Doppelbock

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Hefeweizen

5. Which beer would you like to brew?
Braggot

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

Hopyard to IPA

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

I always like german style beers.

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Perle and Cascade

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

I always prefer Weyermann speciality malts.

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Cans

Julie Bagget

noreply@blogger.com (Cheers Chatty) — Wed, 25 Mar 2020 06:06:00 -0700

Julie Bagget: Consultant & Brewmaster , USA

1. What was your first brew?

Mojo Methegykyn
A mead with wildflower honey, flavouring and medicinal spices in 1991.

2. How did you get this job?

Well, to make a long story short, I went to brewing school, got a job with Anheuser Busch, worked for a couple of regional breweries, now national breweries, a bunch of brewpubs and here I am, working for myself.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Zero40 Belgian Wit.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Bell's double cream stout or New Realm Radegast Triple IPA.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

Whatever my clients want me to make.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

Impale Triple IPA.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Belgians.

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Mosaic.

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

Weyermanns Carafa line of roasted malts.

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Assuming clean draft lines, draught always.

Krutika Khanvilkar

noreply@blogger.com (Cheers Chatty) — Mon, 23 Mar 2020 22:08:00 -0700

Krutika Khanvilkar - Head Brewer @ Thirsty Beers - Mumbai, India

1. What was your first brew?

European Lager Happy by Thirsty

2. How did you get this job?

I got referred by the previous head brewer, Abhishek Agarwal with whom I worked before.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Berliner Weisse because it was a bit challenging.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Gunpowder rye ale from Susegado microbrewery

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

Double IPA

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

Angel's Ale IPA

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Kolsch

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Citra cryo, Wakatu, Galaxy, Cenntenial

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?

Crystal 240 because it gives a wonderful colour

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Love for draught is immense but I also like to try new products in the market that can be either be a can or bottle.

Ankur Aggarwal

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 00:51:00 -0800

Ankur Aggarwal | Arishtam Homebrew Supply Store

1. Your first encounter with the beer industry?
When I made my first batch as part of a high-school project in 1999 and has stuck with me ever since. Under graduation from IIT Kharagpur allowed me to work cross-disciplinary and spend a lot of my time fermenting & trying to recreate Vedic brews. Masters at IIM Lucknow and the overseas semester in France gave me an opportunity to interact with various artisans, winemakers, pastis (fermented meat spreads) and other artists. Subsequently, I travelled to over 20 countries to gain exposure to various cultures, traditions and choices made by locals there. All this helped me with a unique blended approach to food-craft which keeps them contemporary and yet in harmony with the culture and heritage.

My lifelong quest is the revival of our long-forgotten Indian heritage, traditions and restoring them to its rightful place. Filtering out the jargons, confusing terms or esoteric ingredients revered by the snobs, I try to crystallize the ancient knowledge into the simple crux and then scientifically analyze the impact of each of the actions, processes and ingredients. The goal is to enable food craft practitioners to utilize available and affordable equipment and resources.

From France, I understood the value of tradition and presentation. Italy taught me the concept of the wine of natural harmony that occurs in a geographical biome. Germany taught me the subtle differences between the various spices and hops. Americans inspired me to be bold enough to take brewing not as a hobby but as a profession. South Korea with its kimchi, miso, and kombucha taught me the value of fermentation beyond recreation. China & Japan have perfected the art of honouring the traditions and blending them into something that the modern generation will revere. Enumerating further, Rwanda & Uganda taught me that using traditional rudimentary process & equipment should not be a matter of shame but a badge of honour worth flaunting.

2. When did you join the industry?
I never formally joined the industry. I operate out of my home and travel to various clients and help them resolve their product, presentation & marketing issues.

3. What excites you the most about beer?
It is an art that is older than agriculture & civilization itself. Our forefathers could make decent beers in their caves & huts without any sophisticated equipment or processes. And yet the modern man views brewing as an occult practice reserved for a few.

4. Why have you chosen to sell beer brewing products?
It is damm hard and damm expensive to get fermentation equipment and ingredients in India. Burdening my friends to bring back hops, malt and yeast every time they returned from and abroad trip had started becoming awkward. Without the right set of equipment & ingredients, it is difficult to hone any skill. Hence we decided to help fellow hobbyist to offload their supply worries to us and focus on the art.

5. What products does Arishtam sell?
We are a one-stop-shop. I recently wrote India's first homebrewing guide 'Arishtam'.At my website arishtam.com We currently stock over 100 equipment and ingredients options needed to make your homebrew wonderful. All our products are in small pocket-friendly packs and are portable which is designed for a hobby brewer who lives in a space-constrained urban apartment.

6. What sells the most from your product line?
That would be the monthly fermentation workshops that I conduct. Every first Saturday from 11am to 2pm, we have a chat where newbies can ask any questions and get their doubts resolved. Youtube has so many conflicting advises that confuses the viewers. Hence we conduct these sessions to help fellow brewers to practice their hobby in a safe and refined way.

7. Your point of view on India home brewing?
8,000 years of History, and 45,000 species of indigenous plants, one would expect a bouquet of flavours from this land of spices. Yet India suffers from Xenophilia: the hops are imported, the malt is imported, even the recipe and brewer is imported. A homebrewer is not under duress of this straightjacket of industry conventions. Hence they are able to embody their imagination and perfect their art. Anybody who has tasted a pint made from a seasoned Indian homebrewer, cannot switch back to the commercial bottle again.

8. The biggest gap opportunity according to you in the beer products industry?
Lack of adequate testing facility and incubators that can help the amateurs to scale their brews from small pint-size batches to industrial scale.

9. Your future plans within and beyond beer materials/equipment/ingredients?
My life is dedicated to Indian brewers and winemakers by helping them source the right materials, hone their skills and scientifically create the processes/controls needed to industrialize it. I have a dream of purchasing a pint of Indian traditional beer from a store in America and a bottle of Indian fruit wine from a store in France.

10. What’s your favourite beer?
That will be the Ginger Mango Ale. It is a Gruit beer made from fresh mangoes, a lot of ginger and barley malt. Being devoid of bitter hops, it is well appreciated by most female patrons and almost all the ingredients and equipment needed to make the same are there in an Indian kitchen already.

Prashant Madke

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 00:39:00 -0800

Prashant Madke - Head Brewer @ Crafters - Mumbai, India

1. What was your first brew?

My first brew was Kingfisher Ultra at 250 HL brewhouse, based at Bombay Brewery, Taloja.

2. How did you get this job?

After completing graduation in WINE TECHNOLOGY, I joined Kingfisher as a process chemist. That's when I realised that brewing is my passion. Later I completed my Master's Course from Vasantdada Sugar Institute. Mr V. V Choudhari, an Excise officer recommended my name to Gateway Brewing Company (2014).

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

My all-time favourite is DARK LAGER.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?
Well, there are many but my recent favourite is the strawberry sour brewed by Mr Sachin More at Brewbot. I’m not a big fan of sour beers but that beer really impressed me.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?

I like to brew challenging and delicate beers mainly lagers like PILSNER.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?

Being a big fan of LINKIN PARK, I would like to pay a tribute to Chester. I named my 2 homebrews as

The hybrid theory which was an IPA
Chester Bennington Stout

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

For have, I always prefer dark beers like a Stout.

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

I am very old school while selecting HOPS variety, hence so my favourite hops are Summit, Simcoe, EKG, Citra and Centennial.

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?
I like Maris otter, brown malt by crisp malting, special by Castle Malting.

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

It’s really hard to answer, the packaging doesn’t matter to me as I look only for good beers.

"She sensitively speaks with her Grapes."

noreply@blogger.com (Cheers Chatty) — Wed, 19 Feb 2020 01:34:00 -0800

For a microbiologist student, the wine was never the first choice.

Rupali Bhatnagar entered the wine industry by chance and she made most of it. She started her wine journey with Sparkling Wine and the same reflects in her rise from an Intern to Associate Vice-President & Head Winemaker, White Wines-Sula Vineyards.

She believes that one needs to possess a sensitive palate to excel in winemaking and she practices this at every stage of her profession. This is evident especially when she spends endless hours profiling grapes, personally interacting with the grapes and finally crafting the wine matching their strengths.

She signoffs with no prerequisite educational qualifications required in making wine a choice of career. You need to be passionate and understand the process of winemaking from the time you choose a grape to ferment it as wine.

Watch and hear Rupali Bhatnagar of Sula Vineyards
on Cheers Chatty Podcast.

Cheers Chatty!!

Pradip Rangole

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 04:44:00 -0800

Pradip Rangole | Brewer @ Biergarten Brewery & Kitchen | Bangalore, India

1. What was your first brew?
Hefeweizen

2. How did you get this job?
When I'm in last year of graduation at that time I have decided to come to this industry and was very curious about how to make beers and all kind of liquor. So after that, I did masters in brewing from VSI, Pune and I got my first job in Irish Village Brewery, Pune. Since then I am in this industry from last 7 years.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Raspberry Gose(sour beer)

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

There are so many breweries making fantastic beers but my favourite is Stout by Toit, Bangalore.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?
IPA

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?
I haven't thought about it but I would like to try a pale ale style with single malt, single hop, along with Indian spices & seasonal fruits and the name of that beer Optimus Ale.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?
IPA

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Amarillo

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?
Chocolate Wheat

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

All of them

Dr. Ashtavinayak Paradh

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Tue, 18 Feb 2020 01:33:00 -0800

Dr Ashtavinayak Paradh | Co-Founder and Chief Brewer | Goa Brewing Co.

1. What was your first brew?
Hefeweizen

2. How did you get this job?
Mostly due to my academic credentials, I studied brewing during my Masters, later continued my research in Brewing during my PhD, after coming back to India, I started teaching brewing at VSI and now I am a Co-Founder at Goa Brewing Co.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Eight Finger Eddie

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Karvanda Gose by Doolally and Beach Shack IPA by Arbor Brewing Company

5. Which beer would you like to brew?
Currently, I am focusing on Alcohol-Free Beer

6. What’s your favourite beer style?
India Pale Ale

7. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Amarillo

8. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?
Carahell from Weyermann Malting Company

9. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

I prefer a good beer irrespective of the packaging

For the love of grain… my sexy and mysterious ‘MALT’!

noreply@blogger.com (Cheers Chatty) — Thu, 13 Feb 2020 02:54:00 -0800

And…. I am back as promised with a more serious and nuanced series that will highlight processes and detail of Brewing. Now, going back to the very important and age old concept within the German brewing industry of the Purity Law or ‘Reinheitsgebot’ that strictly allowed only Malt, Water and Hops as the ingredients in beer, let us take the ‘Malt’ in detail consideration.

In this article I will shed some light on the following questions:

I shall try and not promise to be all technical and beer nerdy, although it will be difficult! So kindly bear with me; so most of us in those younger years must have secretly snuck into the pantry and dunked a fistful into the chocolaty malt jar and just licked it, it has the characteristic sugary and sweet taste which is far more pronounced and different than our normal table sugar which is a highly purified form of Sucrose, kindly note I am NOT talking about Glucose, because Glucose in itself has no taste!

Anyway, getting back to our impending topic here; if I have to give the textbook definition of Malting: Malting can be defined as the stepwise conversion of the grain to convertible and digestible source of sugar which is converted into alcohol during the process of brewing.

One thing we have very well understood is that the raw unprocessed grain must be converted into simpler and convertible sugar so that it easier for the yeast to digest this ‘substrate’ into energy and alcohol; make no mistake what we perceive as process to get alcohol is nothing but an alternate energy conversion pathway for the yeast because, they are what we beer nerds call as selective aerobes i.e. to say they need minute to very minute quantities of oxygen for survival.

The basic outline of malting; a simplified and lightly technical diagram.

The above flowchart summarises perfectly the conversion of the raw grain or barley into malt that is ready to be milled into the ‘Grist’ which will go into what we us brewers call as ‘Mashing’. So if I have to point out then the questions, which I raised in 1 and 2, are perfectly answered with the help of this diagram!

Now let us look at the very broad categorisation of malts. But first I will summarise the biochemical changes that take place in the malt itself. The action of heat has always been beneficial to many important changes that take place in many materials. It finally affects the taste, aroma and appearance of the beer. Aside from contributing the flavour and colour compounds, the malt also contributes the very important FAN which is the ‘Free Amino Nitrogen’ that is used by the Yeast as substrate during the its very brief growth phase before stepping into the actual stage or biochemical process of fermentation.

The types of malt, which mainly categorised on their kilning (roasting)

The image above explains the types of malt used in brewing. These are mainly categories by the level of kilning one use to produce the degrees of colour on the actual grain. The lesser the degree of kilning the more usage of the malt as the base malt in a recipe; more is the usable substrates during the short exponential phase of the Yeast. Some very good examples of base malt are Vienna malt, pale ale malt, 2-row and six-row barley malt (compared to 2-row it has more nitrogen and can cause more foaming as well) The more the degree of kilning on the malt, the more is the usage of the malt as a specialty malt which will not contribute the fermentable sugars during the conversion stage. The types of specialty malts are chocolate malt, roasted barley, amber malt etc. The German giant malt producer manufactures its own signature styles of malt like Belgian style ale malts, Weyermann carabelge, Weyermann oak smoked wheat malt. So as you can see, barley is not the only source of malt, but you also have wheat, sorghum and rye (mainly in brewing carried out in the US).

I have summarised the very basics of malting without having to dive into the core technical aspect of malting as a biochemical science, in this one mustn’t get the impression of a boring tinder date when one in a moment of heat and naivety swipes right on a seemingly interesting profile! Prost everyone!!!

Rajeshwari Mahendra Chavanke

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 06:18:00 -0800

Rajeshwari Mahendra Chavanke , Trainee Brewer, Bangalore, India

1. What was your first brew?

German wheat(@royal oak Vashi, Navi Mumbai)

2. How did you get this job?
I am currently pursuing my Masters (Wine, Brewing and Alcohol Technology from Vasantdada Sugar Institute, Pune( India). I did my 1st internship at Royal Oak Brewery, Vashi Navi Mumbai and currently, I am doing my 4-months internship in Bangalore which is part of our 4th and last semester.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Citra wheat

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Everyone is making something new and interesting that brings a kind of enthusiasm to taste every new beer so its nothing like the favourite, I love all of them.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?
Kolsch

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?
Sour ales infused with some fruits. It will be named after a fruit.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?
IPA

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Cascade

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?
Pilsener Malt

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

I love all forms of beer 🍺!!

Abhijit Salvi

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Mon, 10 Feb 2020 05:58:00 -0800

Abhijit Salvi, Head Brewer, Royal Oak Brewery Mumbai, India

1. What was your first brew?

Hefeweizen

2. How did you get this job?
Ashtavinayak Paradh: Co-Founder and Chief Brewer at Goa Brewing Co.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Rye Ale

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Stout from The Irish Village

5. Which beer would you like to brew?
IPA, Neipa beer & Bock beer

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?
It would be brewed Bombay Tadka, brewed with 35 spices, Spice Ale beer.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Stout

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Citra & Zythos

9. What’s your favourite malt or Malt variety?
Pale & Rye

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?

Bottle and Tapped

Shravani Salgaonkar, Cheers Chatty's first and International beer enthusiast.

noreply@blogger.com (Cheers Chatty) — Fri, 7 Feb 2020 20:48:00 -0800

Cheers Chatty introduces Shravani Salgaonkar, our first and International beer enthusiast.

Shravani loves beer and this goes beyond guzzling it. Probably this has something to do with he roots fermented in Goa. Talking to brewers, learning about the brews, conducting food pairing workshops…she goes all the way to express, get educated and enjoy cheerful moments with beer at home and out of home.

Her father is her inspiration in following her beer passion we at Cheers Chatty applaud her for taking beer seriously with
flavours of fun.

Shravani, thank you for participating in Cheers Chatty podcast and looking forward to many more.

Cheers!!

#cheerschatty #shravanisalgaonkar #beerworkshops #goa #goabeer #beertasting #beerparing #beerfood #beerindia #beerinternational #beerseattle #beertoronto #beerusa #beercanada #craftbeer #microbrewery #cheers #chatty #itunes #spotify #cheerschattypodcast #podcast #beervideo #beerlover #beerculture #beereducation #craftbeereducation #beerenthusiast #beerinfluencer #beerwomen #beerstyles #beertypes #beergeek #scoby #kombucha #punebeer #beertourism

Amruta Biranje

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Fri, 7 Feb 2020 00:01:00 -0800

Amruta Biranje: Brewster - Bangalore

1. What was your first brew?

Belgian Wit brewed at the College pilot Brewery.

2. How did you get this job?
I have done my Masters in wine, brewing and alcohol technology. At the end of the course, I started working as an intern at Biere club and the journey continues.

3. What’s your favourite beer that you have brewed?

Double IPA

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

Saison brewed by Mr Vijay Negi. Oud Bruin from Doolally and Stout by Rajesh Rajee at brothers and barley.

5. Which beer would you like to brew?
I would love to do a traditional Double Bock. Instead of brewing any particular beer, I would like to experiment with some spices, fruit and coffee.

6. What name would you really like to give to a beer, and what type of beer would it be?
The beer name would be Byg bomb. I would like to use some spices and chillies.

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

I like Pale Ales.

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Mosaic

9. What’s your favourite malt variety?
Rye Malt

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?
Depends on which beer is there. I won't choose these categories.

The history of Beer & the rest is history...

noreply@blogger.com (Cheers Chatty) — Tue, 4 Feb 2020 19:44:00 -0800

I would want to take a moment and thank you all for the views and the recognition if not any comment it has garnered. From this new post onward I would go on a more serious path to highlight Brewing as a process and why it is as much of an Art as well as it is Science.

For most of the ancient history, brewing has earned the notoriety of being a recreational past time for people who have this inherent want to always experiment, though the experiments, in turn, bore fruit or were out and over disasters is a different thing altogether. If I have to give the lamest and the most idiotic metaphor than it was that serenading mysterious, wild and experimental girlfriend that only a few tabooed men would swipe right on tinder.

The German purity law or if I have to take the purist approach the ‘Die Reinheitsgebot’ strictly recognized only malt, hops and water as the basis of brewing beer. And this was given a boost by the King of Bavaria too. Interesting fact, the first breweries were started by monks in the Germany or rather Deutschland, kindly forgive me for my ‘oh so fanboy’ moment approach to the German brewing industry as I am more obsessed with it.

The Germans if I may rightly say so, were very guarded with the purity law and though Yeast was existent in those times it’s a different story that the yeast was at that time the very mysterious tinder date, it was not until that Louis Pasteur swiped right himself was this sexy entity introduced to the world. From that moment began the warm camaraderie of yeast with man, and his research reached heights and also reached new limits that one has been successful today to produce a beer that is equally hybrid in its origin, which uses hops originating from New Zealand, malt that has been procured from Weyermann which is frankly one of the best brands and the yeast which is perhaps the 100th generation of a master culture originating from the Abbeys of Belgium. This narrative also applies to beers in which the lines have been majorly thinned in case of their classifications as Ales or Lagers. For me it’s a like that annoying little tattoo prick, while getting carved a tattoo or a half-baked boring date. I will say I am a purist. For me, you cannot call Gose, a Leipziger Gose if it is being brewed outside of Leipzig. Brewing was majorly introduced as a substituwater, which in those days as treated far too precious than gold. The ancient concoctions were used offerings to gods in cultures like Egyptians, Aztecs and even for that matter Incas.

So lets summarize the process of brewing in an extremely layman way, shall we – Mashing or stewing of the grain i.e malt at a given temperature to extract all the sugar in the liquid. It is this step that will make or break your actual fermentation process; Lautering or separation of the grain from the sweet liquid ‘wort’; Fermentation which is simply defined as the stepwise conversion of sugars to alcohols, needless to say the Yeast here plays n important role in this major step; After the fermentation then we come to the downstream processing of the beer, which includes racking, filtration, carbonation, also if one wants to, then bottling too.

So folks my series of articles starting with this one are going to be technical and also a bit brew nerdy. In this article I touched upon the introduction to brewing processes. Steadily we will touch upon the major components or ingredients of a beer as well – Malt, Hops, Water and Yeast. Next article of mine will deal with Malt, mainly how the Malt is prepared, the various procedures and a bit more on the types, which will include the Specialty, malts too.

Till then cheers and healthy brewing!

@cheerschatty #cheerschatty #beer #beereducation #craftbeer #craftbeereducation #beerhistory #beerbrewing #beeringredients #malt #hops #yeast #water #wort #beerstyles #beertypes #beerlautering #germanbeers #beerfermentation #beermashing #beerstewing #beerracking #beerfiltration #beercarbonation #beerbottling #beerscience

Dr. Ashwini Deore

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Sun, 2 Feb 2020 22:36:00 -0800

Dr Ashwini Deore: Co-founder & Partner

Cerana Meads

1. What was your first brew?

Mead

2. How did you get this job?
Through friend's call and love for wine, always wanted to do something of our own

3. What’s your favourite mead that you have brewed?

Jamun melomel mead.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

IBC IPAs

5. Which beer/mead would you like to brew?
I would like to brew Braggot instead of Beer. But if you insist in beer, then Pale Ale

6. What name would you really like to give to mead, and what type of mead would it be?
It would be the spiced bochet I talked about earlier, and I’d call it Spicerana

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Pale ales

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

Citra and Cascade

9. What’s your favourite malt or Honey variety?
crystal and roasted

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?
Cans

Dr. Yoginee Budhkar

noreply@blogger.com (Ankur Napa) — Sun, 2 Feb 2020 22:30:00 -0800

Dr Yoginee Budhkar: Co-founder & Partner

Cerana Meads

1. What was your first brew?

The one I made? It was a metheglin, or spiced mead with ginger, cinnamon and raisins fermented in Jamun honey. High alcohol still mead.
The one I had? Probably like every Indian, my answer is, kingfisher.

2. How did you get this job?
Some luck, some chance. The universe conspired!

Got to know about mead while studying for my doctorate, was intrigued. Made a few batches at home and encouraged by the results and opportune market scenario, got into the project.

3. What’s your favourite mead that you have brewed?

Made a Piñot noir pyment a couple of years back. Was a perfectly balanced mead. Made a honey oatmeal stout several times. It’s a braggot with 35% honey in it. So far my best attempt at making anything close to a beer.

4. What’s your favourite beer brewed by others?

I quite like the beatnik sticky toffee pudding imperial stout I once picked up at one of the brew dog taprooms. In spite of the 9% alcohol, they have managed to give justice to every word in that name! And it’s still very much a beer. Super delicious.

5. Which mead would you like to brew?
I would really like to make a spiced bochet. That’s spiced mead made with caramelised honey

6. What name would you really like to give to mead, and what type of mead would it be?
It would be the spiced bochet I talked about earlier, and I’d call it Spicerana

7. What’s your favourite beer style?

Pale ales

8. What’s your favourite hop variety?

With my limited knowledge I’d like to say sorachi ace?

9. What’s your favourite malt or Honey variety?
I like them all. If you ask about honey, I like Jamun honey the best, closely followed by lychee.

10. Which do you prefer – draught, bottle or cans?
Draft, please. Cans are good too, for the convenience of carrying and assurance of 100% leakproof seal.

Cheer Chatty

Anudeep Reddy

Saurabh Kumar, Winemaker-SIQERA

Amit Mishra

Amit Mishra - Brewmaster, Bier Library/ Kadak - India

Ishan Grover

Ishan Grover - Co-Founder (Brewer), Kadak - India

Gagandeep

Gagandeep - Head Brewer, Hops n Grains, Haryana - India

Gesu Parate

Gesu Parate - Assistant Brewer, 153 Biere Street, Bangalore - India

Hrishikesh Sasane

Hrishikesh Sasane - Brewmaster , The Beer Chronicles , Bangalore - India

Laxmi Narayan

Laxmi Narayan - Brewer, Chandigarh - India

Rakesh Sahoo

Rakesh Sahoo - Brewer, Hops n Grains, Chandigarh - India

Amit Saini: Head Brewer

Amit Saini - Head Brewer, Chandigarh - India

Julie Bagget

Julie Bagget: Consultant & Brewmaster , USA

Krutika Khanvilkar

Krutika Khanvilkar - Head Brewer @ Thirsty Beers - Mumbai, India

Ankur Aggarwal

Ankur Aggarwal | Arishtam Homebrew Supply Store

Prashant Madke

Prashant Madke - Head Brewer @ Crafters - Mumbai, India

"She sensitively speaks with her Grapes."

For a microbiologist student, the wine was never the first choice.

Pradip Rangole

Pradip Rangole | Brewer @ Biergarten Brewery & Kitchen | Bangalore, India

Dr. Ashtavinayak Paradh

Dr Ashtavinayak Paradh | Co-Founder and Chief Brewer | Goa Brewing Co.

For the love of grain… my sexy and mysterious ‘MALT’!

In this article I will shed some light on the following questions:

The basic outline of malting; a simplified and lightly technical diagram.

The types of malt, which mainly categorised on their kilning (roasting)

Rajeshwari Mahendra Chavanke

Rajeshwari Mahendra Chavanke , Trainee Brewer, Bangalore, India

Abhijit Salvi

Abhijit Salvi, Head Brewer, Royal Oak Brewery Mumbai, India

Shravani Salgaonkar, Cheers Chatty's first and International beer enthusiast.

Amruta Biranje

Amruta Biranje: Brewster - Bangalore

The history of Beer & the rest is history...

Dr. Ashwini Deore

Dr Ashwini Deore: Co-founder & Partner Cerana Meads

Dr. Yoginee Budhkar

Dr Yoginee Budhkar: Co-founder & Partner Cerana Meads

Dr Ashwini Deore: Co-founder & Partner

Cerana Meads

Dr Yoginee Budhkar: Co-founder & Partner

Cerana Meads