Shandy launch

Shandy: The collaboration that has just chilled the summer

All good stories almost always begin with “Once upon a time” and this one begins in Britain in the 1950s. Beer a traditional favourite was mixed for the first time with ginger ale and called ‘Shandygaff’, which was shortened to  ‘Shandy’.

Over the years, many of us have been initiated into beer via Shandy (with lemonade mixed with beer)

At Latambarcem professionally made and bottled shandy was there for the taking. A game-changing collaboration took place when we brought our pure unfiltered crispy Maka lager and the lemonade from Borecha to make vintage shandy, the quintessential low alcohol refreshing sparkling summer drink.

This is also in keeping with a global trend of the best breweries brewing beer mixed drinks. Bavaria, the home of “German purity law” loves to mix its beer with soda and bottle it. This genre of drinks is called biermischgetränke, or beer mixed drinks, such as Radlers and Diesels.

Said Aditya Ishan Varshnei, the CEO of Latambarcem Breweries “The world over people are looking at easy drinking low alcoholic solutions. The lager and lemonade combo (lager-ade) which we are introducing as Shandy is an offering we believe will do well in Goa and elsewhere, as a low alcohol functional beverage, when we enter other cities”.

So folks the summer got chilled. The Maka Shandy is here.

Craft-manship at work!

Decoding craft beer and why it’s about innovation and not size

 

Craft beer is exactly what the name suggests. It about ideation and innovation. It about being bespoke. Craft does not mean small or minuscule or limited. In fact, the spirit of craft is to the contrary. It’s about limitless possibilities. And that is what Maka hopes to do. Traverse the path of unlimited possibilities.

Craft follows one non-negotiable rule here. Quality is paramount even as new recipes, not hitherto created, are introduced. Craft is defined by the amount of Research and Development done and the quality of ingredients i.e grains, oranges and honey used.

Craft therefore is not about size, but the method of production. Maka is therefore not brewed in a micro-brewery but brewed in small batches in a full scale one, which has a capacity to manufacture 10,000 cases.

We call ourselves “true craft” because of our methods and the fact that all our beer comes out of one facility. It has the following dimensions.

(i) Craft is about the style of beer making, not size. Craft can be made on a commercial scale.

(ii) Different variants cater to myriad taste profiles.

(iii) Fully automated equipment allows experimentation and innovation.

(iv) Like any handicraft profession, the beverage craft industry can be defined as one which makes the best use of available equipment to manufacture new products according to the special needs of customers or the free will of the craftsmen. This skill takes more time and imagination. We call this skill, craftsmanship where there are no boundaries to innovation.

 That’s how, we a craft beverage company, raise a toast to innovation.