The word ‘draught’ has always amused me. Change the pronunciation and it can imply diametrically opposite situations — drought is the prolonged absence of water whereas draft is fresh flowing beer on tap! But that’s English for you, which explains why Americans prefer to call and write their keg-served beers as draft beers!
Well, no prizes for guessing what this column is all about. Recently, my trips to Bengaluru and Pune have reminded me of just how good beer on tap can taste. Back home, in the capital, we Delhiites are mostly denied this pleasure for two reasons — the government rules around kegs are quite archaic and stringent and the microbreweries in Gurugram couldn’t tell a good beer from a bad if it knocked on their door, and came in for a cup of tea.
Well, then Bira 91 opened a taproom in Gurugram and things changed. For one, they weren’t making any beer at their outlet. Instead, they were making it at their super-modern breweries and then cold-chain shipping it here in kegs. Also, they had 16 taps! And then, as if just to further up the ante, they promised a new beer every week and so far, almost a few months in, they have upheld that promise, delivering some truly delicious beers — from crisp Czech pilsners to hoppy American ales and all in between — week after week.
Recently, they opened another outlet in Delhi. It basically means that one needn’t hazard the perilous path to Gurugram to enjoy a good pint. One can simply traipse over to the DLF Commons in Saket and get the same beer experience that Bengaluru (and Pune, and Mumbai) have already had for a long time.
So what makes a draught beer so special? Well, it comes out more chilled than a regular bottle or can from one. Unless one puts said pints on ice, the restaurant fridges can never cool down a beer as much as pours forth from a tap. Then, it’s fresher. I may not be scientifically correct, as they have a shorter shelf life and a higher frequency of delivery than, say regular cans. Also, with unpasteurised beers, one is promised an unmatched taste experience, one that just can’ be expected of pasteurised bottled beers. Some claim that draught beers give one a lesser hangover, but I don’t know about that; I haven’t found anything conclusive on the matter.
But what is certain is that draught beers are a win-win because not only do customers enjoy it more, but this beer service format is also more profitable for the bar, costing significantly less per pint than a glass bottle. Why then, doesn’t every outlet simply switch to draught?
In an ideal world, they would. But some outlets just don’t have the space to accommodate bulky kegs at the bar, not to mention, the space needed to store extra kegs. Pasteurised kegs survive at room temperature but if one wishes to serve non-pasteurised beers, then they need to have a dedicated cold room for storing them, which is an added strain on costs and space. And lastly, draught lines need to be serviced regularly — the stoic will advise doing it daily but even the laziest of places need to do it once a week — and encore, anytime a new keg is being tapped. This ritual is not only time-consuming, but some bar owners also complain about the beer wasted through this process.
Well, many may disagree but good clean taps serving fresh crisp beers is probably one of the shorter paths to attaining nirvana. Bira 91 taprooms should simply rebrand themselves as nirvana centres for now.
The writer is a sommelier
