Tag: microbrewery

  • The Druid Garden

    Sahakar Nagar’s role in our lives had been limited to being stared at for a few seconds while on our way to the Airport, but The Druid Garden made us stare longer, at least on Google Maps. Some might say that 25 km is a long way to travel for beer, but hey, when it comes to craft beer, we’re nothing if not committed! It did take a while for us to get around to making this trip though. But when the stars aligned – in terms of weather, traffic and Uber fare – we were ready!

    Sitting atop a commercial building, The Druid Garden is pretty huge, and the design highlights it even more with high ceilings and skylights, and multiple levels of seating. Different kinds of seating too – the typical brewery-style stark long benches, bar stools, lounge seating, and the regular functional kind. At 2PM on a Saturday afternoon, the place was crowded, but we got ourselves a nice corner.

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  • Red Rhino

    The last time I visited the part of the world called Seegehalli, Uber made it seem like it was a rural heartland and therefore not a place it would operate in. That’s one of the reasons why we delayed the visit. That, and the fact that their brewery took a while to start. During the long weekend in the beginning of October, we felt adventurous and Uber was in a cooperative mood, and we finally decided to make the trip. There’s something about late Saturday lunches and craft brew that’s very appealing! 🙂

    Red Rhino is perched on top of MK Retail (map), taking up a couple of floors. Very tastefully done, with lots of wood furniture and decor, a stage for live music, and an alfresco section, the place gave us a sense of comfort very quickly. It helped that that it wasn’t very crowded. We sat on the upper floor with a fantastic view of ‘rural’ Whitefield. 🙂

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  • Brewklyn

    In the recent past, whenever we look at “newly opened places” on Zomato, Kalyan Nagar is quite the dominant player. While I am yet to ascertain the exact difference in coordinates between that place and Kammanahalli, given that we’re in Bangalore, it’s probably just a difference on what side of the road one is on! Kammanahalli was mostly nothing when we used to stay in Cox Town a decade ago, but soon after we shifted back to Koramangala, the place started sprouting restaurants and that too varied cuisines! We still hold that grudge and that, plus the thought of having to cross Tin Factory, have kept us away from this part of the town. All we did was look at it guardedly on our way to the airport and back. It was the microbrewery that changed the equation.

    And thus we headed to Brewklyn fairly early on a Saturday evening to beat the traffic. (map) I really liked the area – seems well planned, and in the context of eateries very well sorted! The same building has a Barbeque Nation, and across the road, we could see Korean, Chettinad and steak cuisines! Brewklyn is on the 4th and 5th floors, and since we found a nice road-facing spot on the former, we didn’t bother going upstairs until after we finished our meal. On a relative note, I found the ambiance downstairs a little more gastropub (despite the graffiti and the pool table) and the upstairs section more like a brewery. Downstairs, you could seat yourselves on some plush seating inside or like us, watch the skyline on bar stools outside. The view was fantastic, especially so since we reached around dusk.

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  • Hoot

    It absolutely was, and it had nothing to do with the food, service or anything that you’d normally judge a restaurant/pub on. Normally, nothing would get me to visit Sarjapur Road, but hey, microbrewery. That, and its photos on Zomato making it look like the sets of MTV Grind! (who remembers?)

    Truth be told, the ambiance was quite good. Poolside would have been perfect, but we were told that the section wasn’t open because there was a rain forecast. We’ll get back to this. We got ourselves a table near the bar. The crowd was extremely mixed – fresh-out-of-engineering-college gawking kids, middle aged families, Sarjapur’s Page 3 equivalent, living ads of  Malabar Gold, probably businessmen, and so on. Hoot 1 – crowd. Not enough children though, so I didn’t have anyone to make faces at.

    As we waited for our friends, we decided to get ourselves some beer. Out of the five craft brews, only two were available. D ordered a Saint Martin Abbey Triple, which was described as “liquid gold served to perfection”. After we tasted it, the only thing I was left wondering was whose liquid gold? Ugh! I had asked for the other available beer – Saint Martin Abbey Dark, which was described as “an uplifting experience”. This one delivered on the promise, only because it is easy to uplift anyone who has tasted that Morarji Desai prescription known as Abbey Triple! Our friends arrived by then, and after tasting both, decided to order wine an cocktails. No Rose wines were available, and no Bira, so the poor souls settled on Tuborg and a Blood Orange & Mint cocktail. My friend described the latter as Rasna with a hint of Vodka. The rest of us missed the hint.  (more…)

  • Biergarten

    First published in Bangalore Mirror

    Whitefield might have its share of infrastructural woes, but in the meanwhile, the number of microbreweries opening up in the neighbourhood means that someone is at least raising hops! The beer would be available only in early September, we were told when we visited Biergarten, (map) but we are used to waiting in, and for things, in Whitefield, so we weren’t surprised. Sooner or later, things will hopefully get bitter. The place covers a fairly large area – at the centre is an alfresco section, with long tables that are perfect for the shared table concept of a conventional biergarten. Surrounding this, but a level above, is a mix of seating options – bar stools, plush sofas for lounging, and functional seating. The bright lights and the green glow give a lively feel to the place, the music is upbeat and the overall ambiance is quite relaxing. The courteous and accommodating service also helps.

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