Beer with biryani? Sure! But a pint of Beeryani instead of a plate of biryani? What’s that? Beeryani, the latest beer by Blockbuster to hit the alcobev market in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, is an ode to the all-time favourite dish-biryani in the Telugu States.
Beeryani is pronounced as bir-yani, as beer is usually pronounced as ‘bir’ in both States.
How is Blockbuster Beeryani different from other beers? The unique aroma. When you pop it open, it smells like biryani. The biryani notes linger until one takes a sip of the beer. When you sip it, you know it is a beer with a strong aftertaste of cinnamon.
Naraparaju, the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Blockbuster Beeryani, shares that the idea of the beer with biryani flavour came when they were discussing what flavour to introduce in the market. Srikanth says, “We were three months into the R&D process in Hyderabad, we had everything in place — the brewery and brewmasters — what we didn’t have was the flavour of the beer.”
Beeryani | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
The team had already acquired breweries from Lilasons Brewery in Telangana and Arthos Brewery in AP, Denzong Breweries in Odisha and upgraded the infrastructure by installing state-of-the-art German machinery and an automated packing zone.
As the team worked and held regular meetings and office lunches became common, got the aroma of biryani wafting from the office canteen almost four days a week. “My team had biryani for lunch almost every day, and when I asked the reason, they replied, ‘We can have biryani twice a day, week after week.”
Srikanth and his team then started exploring what regional-flavoured beers existed in the market. “To our surprise, we found there were no regional flavours, especially from our two States. We found cranberry, peach, and other flavours, but nothing truly regional.”
The real process started after they zeroed in on the flavour. Srikanth explains how Beeryani couldn’t be brewed with the regular biryani masala powder because no one wants residue in their beer. “So we work with whole spices so that their aroma and flavour blends into the fermentation process. We also decided to source the rice, malt and spices locally for the best outcome.”
The beer bottle is packaged with a sleeve that has a picture of the ingredients like star anise, clove, cardamom and cinnamon stick to indicate what flavour one can expect in the beer. Blockbuster also offers two other flavours: karjura (dates) and raw mango as a tribute to the famous toddy culture of Telangana.
“We even created Telangana’s Cheriyal art on the karjura and raw mango beer bottles. The beers are a tribute to the rich food culture of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh,” Srikanth adds.
