Brooklyn Lager launches in India

Brooklyn Brewery, New York’s craft beer company, has launched Brooklyn Lager and East India Pale Ale in India.

Cerana Imports, an Indian distributor that specialises in beer, will market and sell the brands, primarily through the on-trade.

Aided by an ‘established presence’ in the south Asian sub-continent, Cerana Imports will sell though its network of hotels, resorts, restaurants, cafes, bars, clubs and premium retailers.

Eric Ottaway, general manager of Brooklyn Brewery, said: “India is a key market for us with a growing middle class and increasingly global outlook.”

Ankur Jain, director of Cerana Imports, said: “It is a stellar addition to our portfolio, and we hope to change people’s perception of what lagers are.

“The flavourful beers from Brooklyn provide a great alternative to the industrial mass-produced lager beers and offer a delicious and traditional choice to consumers.

Brooklyn Lager, the New York company’s portfolio leader, is marketed as ‘an all-malt lager in the Vienna style’, while the Brooklyn East India Pale Ale is inspired by English ales that were brewed during the 1800s for troops in India.

Anshul Agarwal, vice president of Cerana Imports, said: “We are especially excited about bringing the Brooklyn East India Pale Ale to India – it is a sort of a homecoming for the India Pale Ale – being perhaps the only beer style invented in India and for India.”