Mumbai food: Beer no bar at Lower Parel's Woodside Inn

For Pankil Shah, it's about enhancing the growing craft beer culture in the city

If you are a beer connoisseur who fancies the idea of getting all your favourite brews in the city under one roof, then the newly opened Woodside Inn outlet at Lower Parel might have the answers. Even as the craft beer culture in the city continues to gain potency with micro-breweries mushrooming all over, this restro-pub, that's less than a month old, has introduced a twist to the tale.

There are a total of 25 taps here serving the finest brews from Mumbai's best known beer destinations such as Doolally, Brewbot, The White Owl, Barking Deer, the Gateway Brewing Company and the Independence Brewing Company, besides international varieties like Stella Artois, Hoegaarden etc. While to consumers it might seem like an outlandish idea to sell a competitor's product, owner Pankil Shah tells us that's it's nothing out of the ordinary. "Around the world, this is a very common concept among microbreweries. They make their own beer and then sell it to retailers too. Think of it this way, if all restaurants can serve a certain brand of soft drink, why not beer? And beer is a product of passion. The community is very close-knit and we are more than happy to pass our products to those we know will value it for what it is."


The 25 taps are German-made and serve the best brews from all the microbreweries in the city. Pic/Poonam Bathija

Craft beer makers are more collaborators than competitors, he emphasises. "Until a few years ago, the laws were constrained and we were all fighting the same battle. We all know each other and we want to collaborate and make beer, thereby fashioning out this culture further. That's the idea," Shah says, adding that a collaboration of this scale has not been attempted before. "Definitely, not in Maharashtra for sure." Adding a further twist to the tap, they also plan on introducing cocktails on tap . "We are in the process of developing a Negroni and a nitro gin and tonic on tap. If you add nitrogen, it ensures a smooth creaminess," Shah says.