Desi Brewers: ‘We Are More Than Just Curry!”
Almost 9,000 craft breweries operate in North America, and some are owned by people of South Asian origin. Writer Ruhani De Silva has put the spotlight on five that are “making their presence known in the beer world.”
They’re doing this, she writes on the website Vinepair.com, by “establishing an exciting cross-pollination of American craft brewing and Asian-Indian cuisine, adding fruits and spices common in traditional Indian cuisines, such as cardamom, rice, mango, and cinnamon into their beer menus.”
Among these brewers is Ravi Patel, who founded Other Desi Beer Co. in Branford, Connecticut, in 2019. His beers, available in bars and liquor stores in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, incorporate the Indian tastes and flavors he grew up with.
Tej Sandhu, co-founder of Merit Brewing in Ontario, Canada, named Chanan beer in honor of his grandfather. “I wanted a beer that could stand up to, and add to, the depth of flavor and richness of many of my favorite curries,” Sandhu told De Silva. “Chanan is dry hopped, giving it bursting aromatics that match the intensity of aromas in a curry. It’s brewed with orange and Indian coriander, two ingredients that complement those used in some of my favorite dishes, and it’s fermented using a saison yeast that ensures a dry, crisp finish that cleanses your palate after each bite, resetting it to make the next bite feel fresh and vibrant again!”
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Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
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