Leaving Kodaikanal last night was a journey to remember, with at least 40 hair-pin bends in torrential rain where the driver couldn’t even see through the windscreen. This is one of those moments where you actually begin to pray. To make the situation better we did at least have Bollywood films blaring out all the way. Must have been a psychological thing to help the passengers take their mind off what was happening outside. Even with the rain coming through the windows, updated you every second.
We arrived safely in the huge city and ended up staying in the Ghetto next to Krisynarajenda City Market. As always with the cities we tend to pound the pavements to get a feel for what is going on and explored the MG Road area which was quite a new part of the city with shops and hip trendy locals out shopping and dining.
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| Welcome to the Ghetto of Bangalore |
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| Bangalore Carnage! Who will move first? |
Wi-Fi was needed but not to be found in India’s IT Capital so we decided to change tactics finding a nice little place called the Coco Grove Beer Cafe, which served a Burton and Belgium beer on draught plus jugs of ice cold Kingfisher, which wasn’t surprising with the United Breweries Ltd Head Offices being just around the corner.
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| Coco Grove Beer Cafe |
I had already e-mailed ahead to some breweries to try and organise some brewery tours with no response which was disappointing and when searching deeper on line found out that a lot of the websites had no entry policies for the breweries themselves including:
Industrial Area
Bangalore 5Sy. No. 47, II Phase
Peenya 4728
India
[Map] [Update]
Karnataka Breweries & Distilleries Limited
(United Breweries Ltd)
20th mile, Tumkur Road
Nelmangala
Bangalore 562123
India
Telephone: +91 80-27722345
[Contact] [Map] [Update]
SKOL Breweries Limited
(SABMiller India)
Jalahalli Camp Road
Yeshwanthpur
Bangalore 560 022
India
Telephone: +91 (0)80 - 22198800
[Contact] [Map] [Update]
United Breweries Limited
1/1 Vittal Mallya Road
Bangalore 560 001
India
Telephone: +91 80-22441
[Contact] [Map] [Update]
This left me with two options. The first was to rock up at the brewery gates unexpected and fight my way in. Not successful because the breweries didn’t seem to be located where the maps said. The second option was to try the head offices. The United Breweries Head Office was located in the UB Tower, which was a beautiful modern shopping and dining complex a little like Trump Towers in New York City. Very impressive and attached to the lobby was private secure elevators which after having signed in would whisk you up to the 15th floor. With so much effort having been put in to the search I left Kate at reception and dressed for the occasion with flip flops and dirty feet managed to blag my way past security and up the elevator to the private offices to be kindly met by another security guard who was very polite. I was expecting a film exit out of the nearest window like Beverley Hills Cop. Being in the offices was great and I thought I might have cracked it but for once in India the working hours were what we would call normal. It was bloody Sunday and it was closed until Monday morning what a shocker. It was a shame our timing wasn’t great because we had to move on the following day. An opportunity missed. Getting inside these breweries is more difficult than I thought.http://www.theubgroup.com/
The UB Group was founded by a Scotsman, Thomas Leishman, in 1857. The Group took its initial lessons in manufacturing beer from South India based British breweries. At the age of 22, Vittal Mallya was elected as the company's first Indian director in 1947. After a year, he replaced R G N Price as the chairman of the company.
United Breweries made its initial impact by manufacturing bulk beer for the British troops, which was transported in huge barrels or "Hogsheads". Kingfisher, the group's most visible and profitable brand, made a modest entry in the sixties. During the 1950s and 60s, the company expanded greatly by acquiring other breweries. First was the addition of McDowell as one of the Group subsidiaries, a move which helped United Breweries to extend its portfolio to wines and spirits business.
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| Returning from searching out the brewery offices at UB Tower |
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| Inside UB Tower! |
To celebrate the near but so far from our goal we headed to a street bar, and a street bar is exactly how it sounded. There was a bar counter and some space in front where you bought a bottle and then stood up to consume with the locals who seemed to have more interest in whiskey and water. We tried the Kingfisher Blue Label. Some other brews produced by United Breweries Ltd: (Will try my upmost to sample them all)...
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| The street bar & beer for the adventurous types? |
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| Kingfisher Blue Label |
‘Kingfisher Blue is a fresh, clean and crisp premium beer. This unique brew has a perfect balance between malted barley and hops that gives it a distinctive taste. Meant for the young and adventurous, who seek something extra from life’. Well that seems to be a great way to hit your target market. Just right it straight on the label.... The promotion also seemed huge with Kingfisher Blue signs being everywhere you turned showing young adventurous outdoor types biking down a mountain, and the chance to win a mountain bike with every purchase, with the bike being hung just above the bar. We didn’t win!!!!
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| I just can't find any advertising for this neew Kingfisher Blue! |
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| Just incase I missed the other small sign. This was on the ceiling! |
Before saying our farewell to Bangalore we had one last chance to visit a supermarket for more beer research, while we had the opportunity. Stocking up on Indus Pride, Kingfisher Octoberfest 2010 Limited Edition and UB Export. To be consumed at a later date.
- Kingfisher Blue - Premium Beer
- Kingfisher Red
- Kingfisher Strong - Strong Beer
- Kingfisher Premium - Mild Beer
- Kingfisher Ultra
- Kingfisher Draught
- Royal Challenge
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